


Glad to be Back

by Postal_Service



Category: Eddsworld - All Media Types
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-29
Updated: 2018-05-17
Packaged: 2018-10-25 05:23:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 35
Words: 34,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10757592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Postal_Service/pseuds/Postal_Service
Summary: AU where events of The End take place but Tord comes back to the group. He's forgiven and is busy trying to regain his trust in his friends after everything he's done. First fanfiction, so hopefully it isn't TOO bad.





	1. Bandages

   Tord sat on Tom’s bed, looking at his arm after the bandages had gotten taken off. It didn’t look any better, and it didn’t feel better either. He shrugged at his own thoughts and sighed heavily. _Edd said it would get better as long as we keep changing these…_ He thought while tracing his finger along one particular gash.

   His thoughts were interrupted when the door flung open. “Hey, don’t touch it.” Tom said sternly, setting down the new bandages. “Do you _want_ it to get infected?” he asked while shooing his hand away. He picked up some of the gauze and cut a long strip off, setting it to the side. Tord sat in silence, before trying to think of a clever thing to say. And failing.

   “No.” he responded, and Tom rolled his eyes. “Give me your arm.” Tord handed his arm over and winced when his friend touched it. “You’re uh… you’re not putting that stuff on it again, are you?” he asked with a slight spike of fear in his voice. “Of course! How else is it supposed to get better?”

   Tord jumped and went to pull his arm back, but Tom held his grip. “Stop being such a pain!” he huffed, grabbing some antibiotics. Tord grit his teeth as he started to rub it on his arm. “Ow, ow, ow, ow, stop it--” Tom narrowed his eyes at him, shutting him up. “Tord… it wouldn’t hurt as bad if you stopped messing with it. Touching it makes it worse, you big dummy.”

   He nodded but was obviously preoccupied with trying to slowly sneak his arm back from Tom, resulting in a light kick. “Hey!” Tord said defiantly. He didn’t get a response besides a small laugh. Why is he laughing at me?! I hate it when he does that... Tord thought in annoyance.

   “There! All done.” Tom said. The moment he let go of his arm, Tord shot it under his jacket and held it with his other hand. “Hey, hey, stop!” Tom exclaimed, grabbed at his arm, and pulled it back out. He pointed a finger in Tord’s face and said, “No sir-ee, you stop it right now!”

   “Yeah, okay, Mom.” Tord teased, hissing out a laugh. After a moment of them sharing some laughs, Tom went to wrapping his arm up again. He couldn’t help but feel some guilt for being the main cause of his injuries, but in all honesty Tord needed something to whip him back into shape. I guess I didn’t mean it to be this traumatic… Tom thought to himself.

“Tom? Tord? Are you two in here?”

   Tom flinched, accidentally smacking Tord’s arm. Tord let out a pained gasp and yanked it away from him. “Sorry!” Tom said frantically, sympathetically patting him on the back. He ran to the door to see his good friend Edd.

   “Did I interrupt something?” he asked, looking worriedly at Tord. “No, no, not at all, Edd, come on in!” Tom said cheerfully. Edd smiled and walked in. “Hey, where’s Matt?” Tom asked, knowing that if he wasn’t here yet he would soon come follow everyone else.

   “Oh. He went to the store.” He said with a shrug. “What are you two doing?” Edd narrowed his eyes at Tord, who looked like he was… blushing? Now why would that be happening… He thought to himself with a smirk. He glanced between Tom and Tord with a certain look on his face.

   “Um… Edd? Edd. Edd. You’re staring” Tord said, snapping his fingers in front of his face. Edd blinked in response and just left the smirk on his face. “I’m going to go wait on Matt in the living room. Don’t want to get in the way of your alone time~” he joked.

   Tord’s face went completely red. Tom dropped the bandages and glared at Edd, who just snickered and walked out of the room. A few seconds passed before Tord decided to break the silence. “Ha… He really is funny sometimes.”

   “Y-Yeah.” Tom said, turning a little pink. His face distorted trying not to smile at Tord’s accent. It always kind of got to him. “Here, let me tie that off.” he said, pointing at his now-bandaged arm. Tord stretched it out to Tom who carefully tied off the last bit of bandage.

   “Thanks, Tom.” he said, starting to get up. Tom grabbed him by the hood and shoved him back down onto the bed. “No, now we have to handle your face.” he said in the forceful tone again. Why does he keep talking to me like that?! Tord thought defensively, getting himself comfortable on the bed again.

   Tom sat beside him and tried to awkwardly get access to his face without seeming to close. He lightly felt over the scars. Tord made an uncomfortable noise and impulsively grabbed his wrist. “Hey!” Tom said in a small fit of surprise. He snatched his wrist back and snapped on Tord.

   “I was just helping! You know, I don’t even have to help.” he said stubbornly, setting the bandages down and turning away. There was a long sigh in response. “Tom. Tom. Tom, don’t be like that. Tom. Jehovah’s Witness. Tommy. Thomas. Tommee Bear.” Tord said, grinning as Tom looked progressively more and more annoyed.

   “Fine. Don’t expect me to do much, commie.” he said, turning back around and grabbing the bandages once more. “Just don’t flinch too much- I don’t want to hurt you again...” he blushed slightly and coughed to cover it up. “It’s annoying.” Tord nodded haphazardly in response, leaning forward.

   Tom regained his previous position and leaned closer to get a good look at his face. He reached his hands up and held his face still with one and got the bandages with the other. For a moment they locked eye contact with a strangely okay expression on their faces.

   Tom is never this nice… why is he doing this? Tord suddenly thought- narrowing his eyes unintentionally. Tom tore off some more pieces of bandages, trying to keep his balance in this awkward position. Without thinking, Tord swung his arms up to catch him before he fell.

   Tom flinched again at the sudden movement and glared at Tord, who was just staring at him with a dazed look. “Watch it.” he hissed out, harshly putting the gauze on his face. The whole process took about 10 minutes, the entire time Tord holding Tom in place. He wasn’t going to lie, it was nice… but kind of awkward.

   “There. Done.” Tom said in his monotone voice. Tord continued to stare at him until he cleared his throat impatiently. “Um… Tord?” he asked, pointing down to the fact that Tord was still holding on to him. Tord looked where he had pointed and his face turned red. He let go of him quickly, crossing his arms and looking in the other direction.

   Tom sighed and smiled, getting up. “Well, I should go see what Edd is doing.” he said, pointing behind him at the door. Some part of Tord wanted to grab his arm and convince him to stay, but he knew that would be taking it too far. Especially with Tom. Instead, he made a sort of sad noise and nodded.

   He stood there for a few more seconds before rolling his eyes and holding his hand out. “Come on, Sunshine Lollipops.” he said with a sneer. Tord narrowed his eyes and grabbed Tom’s hand, walking with him out the door. After Tom helped him up, he still didn’t let go of his hand. Tord being Tord, he wasn’t going to let go either.

   So they walked up into the kitchen to see that Matt had returned with groceries. “And that’s what happened! I tell you, I am never going to the store again! Next time you make Tom go.” he finished his rant, turning around to see Tom and Tord. “Hi guys!” he said excitedly, completely ignoring their hands.

   Edd leaned against the table, taking a sip of his Cola. He reached into one of the bags and pulled out a mirror. Matt faked a surprised look. “Oh, wow… how did that get in there?!” he asked, snatching the mirror from Edd and looking into it a moment. He took a couple more things out of the bag and ran to his room, nearly running into Tom.

   “Classic Matt.” Tord said, smiling a little sadly. He sighed. “I don’t know how many times I can say thank you…” he trailed off as he saw the remaining people in the room staring at him. “What? Is there something on my face?”

   Tom went to say something to cheer him up but Edd leaned an arm on the table and raised an eyebrow. “No, but there’s something on your hand.”

   “Something on my--” Tord went to move his hand but he lifted up him and Tom’s hand held together. They both looked really flustered-- Tord glanced away out the window whereas Tom glared at Edd again. Are they up to something? Tord mentally questioned, pulling his hand away.

   As some sort of reflex, Tom snatched it back and swung it back down to where they were. Edd struggled to hold in his laughter as Tord gave Tom the most horrified look ever. “Tom what are y-” he started to question before Tom took his other hand and put a finger over his lips.

   “Shut up with that accent!!” He half-yelled half-laughed. Tord just looked down at him, still horrifically confused. “Thomas, get a hold of yourself! What are you talking about?” Edd rolled his eyes and took another sip of his soda. “MATT! WHERE DID YOU GO?!” he yelled out loud, not wanting to move.

   Matt came speeding back from his room, somehow looking nicer than he was earlier. “Sorry, I was finding a spot to put my new mirror.” he said, putting his hand behind his neck awkwardly. “I found one, by the way.” after a moment of silence he looked at Tom and Tord. “...Am I interrupting something?”

   “Not at all! Come on Matt, let’s all go watch a movie or something.” Edd laughed, before walking off with the other three. Tom and Tord glanced at each other and smiled. It really is great to be back...


	2. Sleep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (Personally I really like the idea of Tom being astrophobic so that will come in later)  
> (Thanks for the views everyone!)

   The movie they chose to watch was almost entirely over, and the only ones left awake were Tom and Edd. Edd turned to say something to Tom, but only held in a laugh when he saw that Tord had fallen asleep on him. He looked at Edd with a pained expression on his face, due to Tord being a bit bigger than himself.

   Edd just pat Tom’s hair in response. “Don’t look at me like that- you let him sleep on you.” He turned back to the movie just as the end credits started scrolling by. Matt suddenly woke up, pushing himself off of Edd and rolling off the couch in a rush. He swung back up and said frantically, “I’M AWAKE!”

   Tord's eyes snapped open and he stared at Matt wildly. “Matt, shut up.” he said in an annoyed tone before closing his eyes again. “Wait, Tord, can you, move a little, to the-- right, maybe.” Tom said, trying to breathe. Tord looked up and sleepily glared at him. After a long sigh, he changed positions so that Tom would be more comfortable- even if it was less comfortable for him.

   “Dawww, Tom’s being nice to Todd-- I mean Tord!” Matt said, smiling like an idiot at the two. “Nope, that’s it. No more.” Tom said, standing up and letting Tord fall straight into the couch. He pushed himself up angrily. “What the he--” his eyes widened a second. “Heck. Tom!?”

   Tom just grinned and bent down to help Matt up from the floor. “So, who’s ready for bed?” Edd asked curiously, not feeling all that tired himself. With a dead look on his face, Tord raised his hand. Tom shot a confused glance at Edd, who just smiled back innocently. “But we just woke up!”

   “Oh, come on Tom, everyone’s tired.” He said, feigning a yawn. Matt opened his mouth to say how awake he felt but Edd shot him a look that made him shut it again. Tom rolled his eyes at whatever his friend was doing. Why is he in such a rush to get to bed? Usually he’s keeping us all up. He thought curiously.

   Maybe it has something to do with Tord… His thoughts were interrupted by- speaking of which- Tord. He got up from the couch and stretched out. “Yeah, let’s hit the hay.” Again, with that stupid accent. Tom forced himself to keep his typical straight face. But why? He hated Tord. He just thought about how much he hated him. How he wrecked everything. There should be no sympathy right now.

   Too many emotions were flooding through him at the moment to realize everyone was already ready for bed. “Goodnight, everyone.” Edd said, as they all passed out hugs. Hugging definitely was a favourite of theirs-- no matter how much a select few of them declined. After all of that was finished, Edd and Matt went to their respective rooms and Tom and Tord made their way to their room.

   As they entered the door, Tord sighed. “Is it my turn to sleep on the floor tonight?” he asked in a slightly annoyed tone. After a moment of consideration, Tom felt a pang of guilt. Maybe it was just the… look in his eyes. Or his tone of voice…? Something about him made Tom feel really bad about kicking him out of the bed.

   "You know what, you can bunk with me tonight.” he said, immediately regretting his words as Tord’s face shot a surprised look. “W-What?" He said in utter confusion. 

   "Look, we need to not fight so much anymore. Plus, Edd doesn't want you laying on the floor because of your.... yeah." He said, trying not to talk too much about his injuries.

  "Stop that! You keep on treating me like I'm going to break any second. What happened to me was what I deserved, and I understand that. You guys need to stop worrying about me. I've had experience with these type things. Are you aware of how much experience I've had?!" He ranted rageously. 

  Tom narrowed his eyes. "Painfully aware, actually. Just accept my kindness. Sit down." He said, grabbing Tord's arm carefully and leading him to the bed. 

   After a moment of annoyance, he sighed and pulled the covers over him. About 5 minutes after laying there, he fell into a deep sleep. Tom stared at him, and the longer he stared, the more evil his thoughts became. 

   He thought about how he could get rid of him at that moment. He was right there. He could choke him, stab him, shoot him even... he could finally get rid of him!

   What?! Tom shook his head to get these thoughts out. Why would he think of something like that?! He shuddered as he changed clothes, brushed his teeth, and climbed into the bed as far away from the other as possible. 

   It didn't take long before he too fell asleep. On the other hand, two rooms away, Edd was playing with Ringo and watching TV. Basically the complete opposite of sleeping. 

   He started to hear a light rain sound outside. "Oh no." He said quietly, petting Ringo behind the ears and smiling at his cute cat noises. "Ah, nothing we can't handle. Isn't that right, lil buddy?" He said, laughing at the meow he got in response. 

   "Hopefully it doesn't get too bad." He ended, picking Ringo up and laying down with him on the couch. He started to close his eyes but then in a desperate attempt to stay awake, began texting Matt. 

   "Hey Matt, are you up?"

"Matt."

"Matt."

"Matt."

   He sighed and flopped his phone on the table, grumpily watching the TV until the rain, Ringo's calming purring, and the low background noise of the news made him drift off into a comfortable sleep. 


	3. Rain

   It was around 3 in the morning when Matt woke up. There was a loud crack of thunder outside, and he concluded that it must've been the cause of him suddenly waking up. 

   He got out of bed and stretched, looking into one of his many mirrors and fixing his hair. It always got messed up when he slept well. The rain sounded like it got harder. "Shut up rain!" He said, narrowing his eyes challengingly. 

   He walked to his window and shoved the curtains closed, as if it would stop the noise. When he did, he heard something fall on the ground. "Huh?" 

   Matt bent down and picked up a phone. After narrowing his eyes at the checkered cover he assumed it must've been Tom's. "Why was he in my room?" He asked, looking into a mirror. He shrugged at himself as an answer. 

   He made his way to the door and walked out, looking around with wide eyes for someone else to be up. He snuck to Edd's door and knocked twice. "Edd!" He whispered urgently. 

   Without waiting for a response, he knocked harder and whispered again. "Edd! Hey E--" he was cut off when the door swung open, causing Matt to knock Edd and himself over. 

   "Matt! What are you doing?!" He asked, sitting up and helping Matt get his face off the floor. "There was rain! And I woke up. And I was bored, so I wanted to see if you were awake!" He said with a wide smile. 

   Edd laughed and rubbed his eyes sleepily. "Yeah, I'm awake now." He got up and dragged Matt up by the arms. He peeked outside of his door before quietly closing it. "Don't want to wake up Tom and Tord. Tom would flip out over the rain, and Tord really needs his sleep."

   The name kind of made Matt a little uneasy. He shifted his weight over and gave Edd a look. "Um... Edd........" he started. Edd cocked a head, sitting down on the couch and setting the sleeping Ringo down on his lap. "Yeah?"

   "Why did we forgive Tord?" He asked seriously, looking at the ground. "Ooooh boy..." Edd said, motioning for Matt to sit down. Once he did, Edd leaned in and hugged him.

   "Well, Matt... everybody deserves a second chance." He said with a smile. Matt slowly put his hands up to Edd and pat his back as he hugged him. "Okay... I trust you Edd."

   Just then, thunder cracked loudly as light illuminated the room. They both glanced at each other nervously as a loud shout of fear rang through the halls. Ringo shot awake and ran in a few circles frantically, ending the spirals by being picked up and comforted by Edd and Matt.

   Meanwhile in the other room, Tord shot awake at the loud crack of thunder. Past that, his heart nearly stopped when he heard a loud noise. He flung himself out of bed and held a hand to his chest, gripping his shirt. 

   "WHAT, WHAT, WHAT?!!" He asked, as Tom looked too freaked out to be embarrassed. He ran out of the bed, grabbed Tord by the arm, and sped out of the room. 

   "Hey, hey, where are we goin-- oOF-" Tord started before Tom skidded to a stop in front of Edd's room. He swung the door open, dove in, and slammed it shut. He locked it and turned to his friends. 

   "That....... that was close..." he said in between breaths. Tord nervously shot a look at Edd and Matt for some explanation, but they were already on their way to comfort him. "Here-" Edd said, shoving Ringo into Tord's arms. 

   Edd hugged Tom and pat him on the back while Matt ran to Edd's window and closed the curtains to make the rain less noticeable. "Can I get an explanation yet?" Tord asked, only to get ignored again. 

   He sighed in annoyance and looked down at Ringo. The cat stared at him, smiling. "What." He asked shortly, only to get a purr and a rub on his hoodie. "Hey, stop that." Tord said, narrowing his eyes at him. "I don't want cat hair on-- urgh! Edd, your cat is disobedient!"

   Edd laughed and went to say something to him when another loud crack of thunder sounded. "IT'S GONNA KILL ME!" Tom yelled, suddenly grabbing Matt's arm and squeezing it like a stress ball. "Ack, not the jacket!" He said, pulling his arm away and flattening out his overcoat.

      Lightning flashed, causing everyone in the room to become dark silhouettes against a clip of white. In the split second it came and left, Tom looked as if he were to have an emotional breakdown. Edd, desperate to make his friend feel better again, pushed him onto the couch and snatched Ringo from Tord. 

   He was slightly disappointed when he wasn't holding the cat anymore, but he saw it was for a good cause. Matt attempted to cheer Tom up as well. "Well, just think about it Tom! Most of the rain has already been, well, rained. So it's almost over!" He said with a smile and a shrug.

   Tom forced himself to grin for the sake of his friends. "Yeah. Yeah. That's right. Thanks Matt." He said rather quickly, stroking Ringo. Ah, Ringo. The definition of pet therapy. He of course purred happily the entire time, calming a little tension in the room. 

    Tord felt a little useless at the moment. He was lost in the situation and had been gone so long that it was hard to remember what his friends liked, disliked, feared, loved... He decided to just sit down next to Tom. 

   He felt a pang of guilt about how Tom had helped him swap his bandages over last night, let him sit on the couch next to him, let him sleep in the bed, just... he had been so helpful, yet Tord was doing absolutely nothing. 

   Tord began to lightly rub on Tom's back, trying to do something. "It's okay... it'll be over soon like Matt said." He encouraged, smiling. Something about Tord actually trying to comfort him made him so happy. He grinned widely and almost cried a little. 

   "Thanks." Is all he let out, but their newly sparked friendship meant a whole lot more than either of them would admit. Tord smiled back and suddenly had an idea. "Hey, I'll go get Tomee Bear, how about that?" He asked, getting up. 

   "What a brilliant idea! Yeah, Tord, go get it real quick!" Edd said, letting his leader personality take over a little bit. He laughed and nodded, unlocking the door and running to Tom's room. 

   Tom jumped again has the thunder rolled back, but it sounded a little fainter. He turned to Matt, who took Tord's place while he was searching, and narrowed his eyes. 

   "Don't comfort me guys, I don't nee-" he said, stopping with dread as light illuminated the room again. "I don't need it." He nearly whispered. Matt shrugged. "We're just trying to be good friends, Tam!" He gave himself a confused look. "Tom! Sorry."

   Tord ran back with the bear, hair all over the place and eyes wild with adrenaline. He sprinted to the couch and shoved it in Tom's face. "Easy peasy, there's your stupid bear." He said, giving himself a second to breathe before flopping down in a small space between Tom and Matt. 

   "Thanks. And it's not stupid." He said defensively, hugging Tomee tightly. Tord rolled his eyes and laughed. "Whatever you say." This left Tom a little flustered again. The thunder stopped sounding so close and became so distant that you almost couldn't hear it.

   At that point he began to become embarrassed. "You know, I didn't need your help, guys." He said confidently, getting up from the couch and letting Tord and Matt fall. "Ugh! Again?!" He objected, lightly trying to shove Matt off of him. 

   "Oh sorry." Tom said unapologetically. He stuffed the bear in his pocket and walked to the door. "Tom, where are you going?" Edd asked, taking a sip of a Cola he just grabbed. "Aren't you going to hang out?"

   "Ah, don't sound so down Edd. I'll come by later. Till then, you three have your fun." He said, walking out the door and to his own room. Edd sighed and closed it behind him, looking at the remaining two people. 

   "Guess we'll have to wait to go have some fun..." he said, sitting down where Tom was earlier. "Yeah. But that's okay! At that point the rain will be all dry, won't it?" Matt asked happily. 

   "Not entirely, Matt." Tord said, laying upside down on the couch. "But a good bit." 

"Oh okay."

   After that the room was kind of quiet. No one wanted to be the one to break the silence, so Edd took it upon himself to start on the adventure plans for the following afternoon. 

   Why did Tom just leave? Was he embarrassed? Tord thought, audibly sighing. He turned around and stretched his legs across Matt and Edd, continuing his thoughts. 

I'll check up on him later. 


	4. Calm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (Thanks for reading, once again! I hit a lil bit of a writers block but I will be back to updating every night to around every other night.)

   The rain had finally died down. At this point, nothing could be heard except for Edd's loud TV and the casual conversations between the three friends. "You guys want any drinks?" Edd asked, shaking his empty can. 

   Matt shrugged. "Maybe a juice box if you have one." He replied, not moving his eyes from the TV. "Uuuuugh, do you HAVE to get up?" Tord asked in an annoyed voice. He was still stretched out over them and really didn't want to move. 

   "Unless YOU want to, yes." Edd said with a smirk that cause Tord to narrow his eyes. "Fine." He huffed, shifting out of the way. Edd got up and walked to the mini-fridge, going through it's contents. "Uh Matt, there's no juice-- do you want a Cola or something?"

   The obvious look of disappointment on Matt's face was only seen by Tord, who struggled to keep in a laugh. "No thanks, I'll be fine." He said with a sigh. Edd thought a moment. "Hey, I thought you went to the store to get more..."

   Matt's face went slightly red. "I.. um... I forgot..." he admitted, keeping his eyes on the TV. Edd shut the fridge and raised an eyebrow. "Again?" Matt shrank back a little in the couch. "Yes." He muttered. 

   "Dawwww it's okay Maaaatt!" Tord teased with a grin. "We all make mistakes, don't we Edd?" He said in a voice that one would use to talk to a little kid. Playing along, Edd came behind Matt and pat his head. 

   "Don't feel down, Matt, you tried!" He smiled. Matt shooed away his hand and tried not to laugh along with them. "Oh would you look at that!" He said, pointing at the TV. 

   Edd and Tord ceased their teasing to stare at the TV. It was some advertisement for a water park. Tord and Matt warily looked at the other, who was smiling widely. "Whenever Tom is back from his relax time, we've gotta show him this!"

   He turned excitedly to Tord. "Don't you think it'd be cool?" In response, he took a quick glance at his arm and thought about his face. He didn't really want to go in any water. But, to please his friend he smiled as wide as Edd-- a specialty of his-- and faked excitement. "Yes, that would be very cool!"

   Matt grinned widely at seeing Edd get so excited over something he pointed out. It always made him feel wanted. "So when are we going?" He asked curiously. Edd stopped and thought a moment. 

   "Well... we need money to go... and we need to get a ride..." Tord raised his hand assuringly. "Don't worry, I can do that.", which cause Edd to gasp in happiness. "Aw Tord, you'd do that?" He asked with a laugh, continuing to label off all the things they needed. 

   He suddenly threw his hands up in annoyance. "Rgh! I hate discussing adventure plans when no one is here to listen to them!" Tord and Matt shot similar glances at each other. "But Edd, we're both here to listen!" Matt pointed out. 

   "Yeah, but I need EVERBODY. Wait-- I've got an idea. Tord, go get your boyfriend." He said, writing down his plans on a notebook. Tord got up from the couch, taking a few seconds before narrowing his eyes in defense. "Do not call him my boyfriend."

   Edd rolled his eyes, not ceasing his writing on the list. Tord fixed his hoodie strings to be even before walking out the door and into the hall. He shut the door casually behind him and started going down the path. 

   As he got closer to Tom's room, he began to hear some sort of noise, muffled through the walls. He swore he heard a voice, and narrowed it down to Tom playing on his bass guitar, Susan. 

   He carefully put an ear onto the door, keeping his feet away from he bottom of it. He definitely heard a voice now. It was Tom, and he sounded... amazing...

   Tord became so captivated in it that he didn't realize the sound of the bass came closer and closer to the door, before it swung open. "AUGH!" Tord yelled in surprise as he fell. "DRITT!" He said harshly, shoving himself back up and dusting himself. 

   "Mind explaining?" Tom asked, raising an eyebrow. "I could hear your heavy native breathing from a mile away." He said with a slight laugh. In response, Tord blushed harshly. He crossed his arms and blocked it by turning away. 

   "Edd wants you." He said, getting straight to the point. Tom ceased playing a moment and leaned Susan up against the wall. He raised an eyebrow and held his hand out to help him off his knees. "Really? What does he need me for?"

   Tord gripped his hand, barely having to lift himself as Tom pulled him up. Why is he so strong? He thought, daydreaming as he stared off into Tom's weird eyes. "Thanks." He said breathlessly. 

   Tom laughed slightly and smiled back at him. "You're welcome. Now get out of my face, would you?" He joked, grabbing his hoodie strings and leading him out the door. Tord directed Tom to Edd's room, where they walked in on Matt and Edd being very close. 

   Edd jumped and cleverly played it off as him asking Matt something. He said in a slightly higher pitch then normal, "YEAH THE STORM'S LOOKING A WHOLE LOT BETTER!"

   Matt shot a confused glance, not knowing what was wrong until he saw Tom and Tord in the doorway. "Tom!" He called out excitedly. He still wasn't used too Tord being around again, and kept forgetting he was even there... odd. 

   Tom walked to Matt to go talk to him as Tord stood in the doorway. Life was so much better here... rather than- his thoughts suddenly shut off as he felt his phone vibrate. He quickly made sure no one was looking before slipping on the other side of the door, pulling his phone out. 

   "Dangit Patryck--" he whispered angrily. He answered the call and simply said "I'll call back later, I can't engage in full conversation at the moment.", before getting a "Sir Yes Sir" and hanging up. Tord exhaled deeply. It wasn't over. 


	5. Road Trip

   "Tord?" A voice asked from the other side. "AH!" He yelled, almost dropping the phone. Tom caught it for him. "What're you doing?" He asked curiously, looking down to check his phone.   

   Tord snatched it back and threw it in his hoodie pocket. "Nothin'." He said, staring right into Tom's "eyes". It took a second for him to buy it, but after a couple seconds Tom's surprised look became his normal sarcastic one. "Alright then. Speaking of which, have you seen my phone?" He asked, looking around. 

   "Actually, I think I saw Matt with it. You should go check." 

   Tom looked a little confused. "Why would Matt have it? Augh, whatever. Come on." He said, grabbing Tord's hood and leading him back in the room. He'd better keep a close eye on him. Tord started to protest but stopped himself. 

   As if on cue, Matt got up from the couch and ran to them. "Tom! Tom, I almost forgot, you left your phone in my room at some point." He said with a grin, handing over the device. "Thanks buddy." Tom replied, taking it and looking at it. Must've been drunk, he thought to himself. 

   "Great, now that we're all together again, let's go to the Waterpark!" Edd said suddenly. Matt threw his fists up in the air- a usual when he's excited. "Yay! Waterpark!" He yelled, running to his room to get stuff together. Tom looked horribly confused. 

   "Hei kamerat, we were talking about going to the waterpark earlier while you were having your alone time." Tord explained, elbowing Tom's arm. "Oh... well that was really extemporaneous."

   "... really what?" Tord asked with a confused look. Tom returned an annoyed one. "Ex. Temp. Or. Ane. Ous. It means on-the-spot, right that second, immedi-" he stopped as Tord put a hand over his mouth. "Okay Jehovah's Dweeb, I get it, you're smarter than me." He said shortly. "Get your stuff together."

   He moved his hand to hold the door open for him. Tom stared blankly at him for a few seconds before giving in and walking out, getting a quick few pats on the back. "That's it." Tord said, cutting off the TV, lights, and other random things Edd forgot to do before leaving his room. 

  Only about 15 minutes pass before everyone has their bags ready and is set for going to the Waterpark. A sudden thought came up in Edd's head. "You said you were driving, right Tordy?" 

   He cleared his throat, disregarding the nickname. "Ja, if you still want me to." He silently cursed himself for letting this many foreign words slip out of his mouth today. Whatever, Edd and Matt probably don't even notice. He began to drift off in his thoughts about how he's spent so much time with his army instead of being an actual friend here. But the mission... he couldn't afford to--

   Tom whacked Tord in the face. "Wake up Commie, Edd's talking to you!" He snickered. Tord scowled at Tom before turning back to Edd with a completely different face. Edd nodded as he got his attention. "Great. How about I take the wheel?"

   Tord felt slightly hurt. "Why?" He asked while masking his feelings. Edd uneasily stared at Tord's arm. "I just want to." He lied. "Gimme the keys!" 

   "... okay..." Tord said, handing them over. He, along with the other three, through their stuff in the trunk of the car. He slid in the backseat with Tom, while Matt shotgunned and Edd drove. "Don't crash my car."

   "Oh just trust me." He asserted, starting the car and driving. Matt turned up the radio a little and began humming along to the song playing. This ride was gonna take a while. 

   Tom looked out the window out of boredom, counting the signs quietly. "5...6....7, 8......" he muttered. "9, 10, 11, 12..." Tord finished, looking out the window. They exchanged challenging looks before proceeding to slowly scream out the signs as they were speeding past. 

   Edd tried his best to stay focused behind all the yelling and Matt's obnoxious singing, but in the process nearly ran a red light. "THIRTY SIX THIRTY SEVEN THIRTY-- OOF!!!" Tord and Tom yelled simultaneously, both ramming their faces into the window. 

   Edd winced. "Christ, guys, shut it!" He snapped, looking back at the road. Tord made a face and copied Edd mockingly in Norwegian. "Kristus folkens, hold kjeft!" He finished, trying not to die as Tom laughed as hard but as quiet as he could. "I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT YOU SAID!!" He whispered-yelled through laughs. 

   "QUIT IT GUYS!!" Edd shouted, taking a sharp left turn. Matt nearly fell out of his seat, causing Edd to snap again. "MATT, SEATBELT!!" He said in a huff. Tom looked at Tord. "Do it do it do it!" He whispered again. 

   Tord cleared his throat and faked his best British accent. "Matt, setebelte!" Which then proceeded to get obnoxious laughter from the back. Edd slammed on the breaks. "ACK!!" Matt yelled, flinching as he almost broke his nose on the car mirror he was looking at. 

   Edd unbuckled and whipped around like an angry mother. "SHUT UP GUYS. WE'VE NEARLY CRASHED THE CAR 3 DIFFERENT TIMES!! I DON'T WANT TO HEAR A PEEP OUT OF YOU UNTIL WE GET TO THE WATERPARK!" He yelled. After a few seconds to let it sink in, he turned back around and got the car started again. 

   Tom and Tord slowly looked at each other in fear. Tord grinned mischievously and leaned over as close to Tom as possible. "Hey Tom." He whispered. Tom played along. "Hey Tord." He whispered back. Tord leaned in as close as possible, and whispered really really quietly-- "peep!"

   Suddenly they started laughing so hard that they didn't stop. Edd turned around while at a red light, trying to get them to shut up again, but to no prevail. It didn't help that they got Matt laughing too. Soon enough, Edd started holding in laughter himself, and the whole car was full of crying, laughing, idiots. 

   They parked the car at the Waterpark, and Edd got out-- still laughing. "Guys-- guys get your-- pfffft! Get your stuff!!!" He said, biting his lip to stop. Everyone got out of the car and the laughing eventually died out. "Ah. That was a fun ride, ey Thomas?" Tord commented, elbowing Tom again.

"Haha. Yeah."


	6. Park Adventure

Eventually, all four of them made their way up to the front gate of the Waterpark. “Ten dollars a person.” the man in the booth said happily. Edd reached into his pockets and pulled out some money. “There you go!” he said excitedly. He couldn’t wait to explore this place. All four of them walked inside the gates, each taking a gasp as they saw all the water.

"Oh my god! It’s-- Exactly what I expected.” Tom said, faking an excited look. “Anyway, where do we change clothes?” he asked casually, looking at Edd. “Ah! We have the lockers over there, just follow me.” he answered, swinging the keys on his finger. “713, 714, ah! 715.” he unlocked the locker and presented it to them. “Tah-dah! Okay, now give me all of your bags.” he said, taking everyone’s extra things.

Tord locked his phone and folded it into his hoodie. He wasn’t letting any of them touch it, and Tom noticed. He narrowed his eyes, but didn’t question. “Alright. Okay. We have everything right here.” he closed the locker after they put their clothes and stuff in it. “Who’s ready for an adventure!!?” he yelled out.

Matt threw his hands up in the air. “ADVENTURE!”

Tom rolled his eyes. “Adventuuuure.”

Tord sighed. "Adventure."

They first stopped at this giant water slide, where the wait was about 30 minutes. Matt was starting to get a little freaked out by the height and was attempting to slip away, but the other three pushed him back and comforted him. 

"Oh come on, Matt, you've almost crashed to the ground in a spaceship once. You've been up in the air higher than this." Edd comforted, patting his back. Tord felt another pang of guilt. Yet another thing they did while he was off ignoring their existence. Great. 

He flinched as Tom punched his shoulder lightly. "You're not scared, are you?" He asked, referring to the misinterpreted look on his face. "Scared? Me? No, no, no, no. I don't get scared, Tom. I thought you knew me better." He said with a smug face. 

"Hm. A part of me doesn't want to believe that, but I'm going to pretend to believe it to see how the situation plays out." He thought aloud. Tord rolled his eyes again. "Nerd." 

Before Tom could return a snooty remark, they got up to the front of the line. "A party of four?" A guy at the front called. Edd gasped. "That's us, that's us!" He grabbed Matt and shoved him to the front. 

The guy guided Matt, Edd, and Tom to the ride, but stopped Tord. "Excuse me, but you do realize you probably shouldn't get on the ride with sever wounds?" He said, pointing at his bandages. "It's just a safety protocol, I have to say it."

Tord looked embarrassed. "Y-Yes. I do realize that, but my friends really want me to ride." He said before righting the one on his arm  and sitting in the seat. 

Matt was shaking really hard while Edd kept saying comforting things. Tom shot a challenging look at Tord, and vice versa, before the floaty thingy dropped down the giant slide. 

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!" Matt screamed the whole way down, closing his eyes. Edd summed up enough courage to throw his arms in the air, while Tom looked completely unmoved by the speed they were going down. Tord stayed calm for the very beginning, but panicked and grabbed Tom's hand. 

The ride finally ended as quickly as it had started, and they were getting out of the ride. "That... was... AWESOME!!" Edd yelled enthusiastically. Matt shook his head. "No it wasn't. That was not awesome Edd. No." He walked off to the bench and sat down. Tom helped Tord out, looking at the bandages. 

"Hey, maybe the guy was right and you should sit out the next few rides, the thing's coming loose." He noted as they followed Edd to the bench. Tord narrowed his eyes. "Well if the bandage is causing such an issue why don't I just take it off." He said, threateningly holding his hand over it. 

"Ugh, Tord, it would get infected. That's dumb." He said, swatting his hand away. "I'm sure it'll get better soon anyway. It's just a burn, right?"

"No, actually, its WORSE than a burn, but I'm not guilt tripping you on Edd's fun time." He spat angrily. Tom sighed and walked past him, trying to talk to Matt. 

The next couple of hours were boring for Tord. He just watched everyone else participate on the rides while he cursed himself for listening to Tom. But eventually, the sun was starting to go down again and all four of them began to wrap up their activities. 

"Sorry Tord, I know you probably wanted to go on some of those rides." Edd said with sympathy on their way out of the park. Tord smirked in reply. "Ah, I'm finding my way around that soon." 

Tom narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "What do you mean?" He asked, only to get shushed by Tord. As they got to the car, Edd narrowed his eyes at everyone. "Please, for the love of every cola on the planet, can you keep it down on the way back?" 

After recieving nods from them, he started up the car and began to drive. Tord was bored again in the car ride, and lazily turned to look at Tom. He was staring out the window, looking more tired by the second. Eventually his head fell from where his arm was supporting it and he fell asleep. 

Tord cautiously reached a hand over and rubbed his back. After a few seconds, he smiled and took back the hand. Even if he didn't really get to do anything, it was still fun hanging out with his friends. Friends... friends friends friends. He had friends again. Nothing to blow it. 

He took out his phone and made sure Matt and Edd weren't paying attention before messaging someone on it. He clicked on Patryk's name and began typing. 

He quickly sent the message and turned the phone off. Good timing as well, because the moment he shut it off, Tom sleepily looked up at him. He was obviously drunk on sleep. Or alcohol. Actually, the longer Tord looked at him the more he thought it was alcohol. 

Tom reached his hands up and squishes Tord's face with a big smile. "Your face is so adorable~" he laughed, before his hands slid off and he began sleeping quietly again. Tord's face was completely red, and he looked up to see if anyone saw or heard. 

Everyone in the car was sleeping peacefully, luckily. Wait... everyone?? Tord shook Edd's shoulder. "EDD WAKE UP!!" He yelled, causing Edd to take a sharp right turn into their apartment driveway. "I'M UP I'M UP!" He yelled, parking the car. 

"Nice going Edd."

"Shut it."


	7. Secret Meeting

Everyone got out of the car and inside the house, everyone going to their respective rooms. Edd invited Matt over to watch a movie, who gladly agreed and had already changed clothes and was chilling. 

Tord practically dragged Tom in his room, closing the door behind him. He shook him awake. "Tom. Tom. Tom. Tom. T--" Tom covered his mouth with his hand. "Shush, I'm awake you little gnat." He laughed and got up, going to change clothes in the bathroom. 

After a few minutes they were both dressed and ready for bed again. Tom sat on the bed and stretched out, looking at Tord. "What?"

"I don't know, just looking for permission to not sleep on the floor again." He snorted back. Tom rolled his "eyes". "Get in." He said, lifting the blankets up. Once they both got situated, Tom signed. "You know, for you being in the army or whatever you call it for eight years you really are a wimp."

Tord was slightly offended. "Wimp?! What world do you come from???" 

"Earth."

"Naturally!! AUGH, whatever. I don't care what you think about me, Thomas." He curled up in a ball, facing away from him. After a second or two, Tom piped up again. "You shouldn't be sleeping on that side."

Tord narrowed his eyes. "What?"

"That side. It's your bad side."

"...Oh..." he turned the other way so that he was awkwardly facing Tom. Tom stared at him with a big smile again. "Uh... what are you looking at there?" He asked curiously.

Tom blinked. "You."

"Me?"

"You."

"...Why?"

"Cause."

"Stop."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Cause."

Tord shot an annoyed glare. "Okay now, what is this nice guy act?" He asked, trying to get answers. Tom lazily blinked again. "Nothin'"

"You smell like a bar." Tord replied, trying to get him to stop.  Instead, he looked down a little.

"I do?"

"You do."

"Oh."

It was silent until Tord tried to break the ice again. "But it's not bad. It's kind of just... signature you." He said with a smile. Instead of getting an actual response, Tom snaked his arms around Tord and fell asleep, pulling him close. He had no idea whatsoever how to react to this. No one ever really even touches him. Ever. This was weird. 

He sat there arguing with himself with what seemed like forever before sighing heavily and trying to fall asleep. Wait, the phone! He whipped his head around to where he set his hoodie down on the floor. "Gud jævla dammit." He cursed quietly. 

Looks like he'd have to get it tomorrow. Urrghhhh... but it's important--- He looked at Tom one last time, peacefully asleep, before slowly slipping himself out of his grip. He quietly reached for his phone and checked it. Good, he had messaged back. Finally! He could fix his whole problem. He shoved the phone in his pocket, put the hoodie on, threw on shoes, and quietly slipped outside. 

A car pulled up right on time. Tord strided towards it and hopped in the backseat, leaning up. "We've got to hurry so it doesn't take too long. Oh, I've missed you two!" He exclaimed, putting his arms around his two best soldiers. Paul laughed lightly and pat his arm. He put his hands back on the wheel and sped away quickly. 

Patryk turned around to talk to Tord along the way. "So are you sure you want to go through with this, sir? I mean... we don't even own the correct technology to--" he stopped as Tord put a hand up. "It'll all be alright. I trust my own handiwork. The arm back at base is programmed to adjust to my body immediately after being set into the guidelines it's assigned to. I'll need your help for that. The only thing I'll need from the hospital wing would be some antibiotics, painkillers, and anesthetic." He rocketed off quickly. 

Paul silently lit his cigarette and rolled down the window, resting his arm outside it. "But what if something goes wrong?" Patryk asked again in a slight panic. Tord rolled his eyes. "Oh come on, it's not. You can trust me. Nothing will go wrong." 

The car took a sharp left turn, causing Tord's face to smack the window. "Ugh." He said, rubbing it. "Sorry sir, just trying to get us there before your buddies wake up." Paul said apologetically. "Hey Pat, how far are we from base again? It's hard to see these signs out here."

"Oh my God, should I be driving? About thirty minutes, Paul. Please don't get us arrested-- I'm really not in the mood to kill another person who has a family today." Patryk said, rubbing his head in stress. Tord seemed interested. "Oh yes, how is co-commanding working out for you?" 

"Pretty good, considering Paul and I aren't as good as you in the speech area. Nonetheless, your soldiers are listening and are very anxious for you to return..." he waited a couple seconds before taking a slow breath in. "You... are coming back... right?"

Tord picked at his arm a little bit, avoiding eye contact. "Well.... I...." he went silent for a long time. Patryk worriedly looked at Paul, who was squinting at the road signs. He took another sharp turn, but right this time. "We really need you sir." He said after getting on a straighter road. 

"Not tryna contradict your thoughts... but our army is basically nothing without you." Paul finished, slowing down a little bit as they entered the driveway to Red Base. Tord suddenly got an idea. "Hey. How about I continue living with Edd, but when a major battle, problem, war, or anything comes up, I'll leave immediately and come to your aid? Edd would be so much more happy with that. I can't just leave them... After all this time and everything I've done, they've actually trusted me. The sweet little idiots..." he said, feeling slightly guilty again for leaving without any notes. "I should probably leave a message..."

Paul brought the car to a stop. "Ight Tord, are you ready for this?" He asked. Tord nodded, looking spitefully at his ruined arm. Patryk got out and helped Tord inside.


	8. Amputation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If you don't like gross bloody surgical things, then I suggest you skip this chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the views, everyone! Glad you like my first story. I should update a little more often, so sorry if I've been caught all behind. :(

As Tord was rushed in by the two, everyone in the halls stopped and stared. One soldier saluted, and everyone else followed in suit. Tord grinned at them. He was still in control, good. Paul stopped next to one who was dressed in a slightly different uniform. "Hey James, is Dr. Hanes in his office?" He asked casually. James nodded. "Yes, I was just helping him restock."

"Thank you." Patryk said with an awkward smile. "Okay Tord, we're going to go ahead and get you to the office. You said you wanted to get done as fast as possible, right?" Tord nodded a little slower this time, getting a little scared by the thought of putting his life in someone else's hands. "Paul, get the arm. It's in my office." He commanded. 

"Yes sir." He responded, breaking from the two and running upstairs. They continued walking until they reached a room with the words "HOSPITAL WING" on the side. Patryk led him through. "Hanes, sir? Red Leader is here, as I've messaged."

Dr. Hanes looked surprised to see their leader in such bad shape. "Ah... yes... what about his..." he started, before Paul ran up. "Right here, sir!" He said, handing the arm to the doctor. Tord bit his lip nervously. "H-Hey... Doctor... there are some specific instructions to go with this surgery." He said, shaking a little. 

The doctor nodded. "Whatever you want, Commander." Tord straightened up his posture and forced himself to stop sounding scared. "I don't need much. I will need some painkillers and possibly antibiotics. Anesthesias would be nice if you have them... but I don't want to get put to sleep." He added quickly. Tord used to have a weird nightmare where he was put to sleep for a surgery and never woke back up. He shuddered as he remembered it vividly. "Also... my arm will basically add itself on. It will just need to line up like this." He said, pointing out the way it needed to be held. 

Dr. Hanes nodded. "Would you like them to stay with you?" He asked, pointing at Paul and Patryk. Tord nodded very slow. "I need them here." Patryk anxiously ran his fingers through his hair. "Tord, you don't have to do this." He said, trying to sway his mind one last time. "I do." Tord challenged back, narrowing his eyes. 

"Lie down here." 

Tord lied down and tried to relax, staring at Paul and Patryk with a panicked look. Paul gave a thumbs up and Patryk smiled reassuringly. (More for himself than for Tord). The doctor tied him down to the bed and took a thick-looking strap, tying it around his arm. Tord's eye widened in surprise and fidgeted a little. "Stop moving, you'll be fine." Dr. Hanes said assuringly. 

He turned to the shelf behind him, grabbing a sort of shot and turning back to Tord. "This is a very powerful numbing medication. Don't move, if you can still." He said, carefully setting it up right on top of his right shoulder. He quickly jabbed it in and squeezed the stuff out of it. "RRGHHH-!!! WHY DID THAT HURT?!" Tord snapped, gritting his teeth angrily. Dr. Hanes laughed lightheartedly. "Shush, that's not even the painful part." He looked to his side and grabbed his medical saw. 

"Could you grab that bucket there?" He asked Patryk, pointing behind him. He nodded and slid it under Tord's arm. "It's to catch some of the blood that's going to flow..." Dr. Hanes explained, pulling his gloves on and moving a surgical mask over his mouth and nose. "...And by some I mean a helluva lot." 

Tord full on panicked as his shoulder around his arm went numb. "Augh!! Doctor... is it supposed to do that?! Be careful please... I don't want anything to go wrong..!!" He rambled, as the doctor adjusted the saw on top of his arm. He turned to Tord. 

"You won't feel anything besides a really weird absence, okay? Now do you want this to be slow or quick?"

He thought for a couple seconds. 

"Quick."

"Then I suggest you don't move."

Dr. Hanes suddenly pushed all his body weight on the saw, slicing his arm clean off. Tord gasped in fear and surprise, looking up at Patryk and Paul. Patryk shot a hand up to his mouth, biting his nails in a panicky way while Paul comfortingly rubbed his back. "He's gonna be fine, the doctor... knows what he's doing... oh god..." Paul tried to comfort, feeling a little sick to the stomach. 

Dr. Hanes grabbed the arm, holding a hand to the wound to stop the bleeding. He set it up the way Tord had explained seconds ago, and shoved the arm where it was supposed to go. The arm locked in place with a sort of cutting noise, as if it had lodged itself in there, before they saw smaller pieces of metal rearrange and force themselves into place before coming to a complete stop. 

Tord winced as he felt the final wire connect, then held his breath. Everyone in the room stared impatiently at his arm, all hoping it would work. Tord stared at it, slowly lifting it up. He twisted it around in the air, made a fist, bent it, did some sign language, and relaxed it. He let out a huge sigh. "It... It works!!" He said excitedly. 

Dr. Hanes unstrapped Tord from the medical bed, allowing him to sit up. He shook the doctors hand quickly. "Thank you, thank you..." he said, starting to tear up. He flung himself into Paul and Patryk, hugging them as hard as he could. "It works...... thank you........ thank you....." 

He finally pushed himself away, furiously wiping his tears. No weaknesses.... no showing weaknessess..... Patryk was super relieved. "Tord........" he struggled to get out. "You did it. You really are the greatest leader out there." He led him back through the hallway on their way outside. The soldiers saluted once more, accompanied with some cheering for his success. Tord gave a final giant wave of his robot arm before walking out the front door. 

Paul got in the front again, starting up the car. Patryk rode shotgun and Tord sat in the back, playing with his new addition to himself. He looked outside to see the sun start to come up. "We'd better hurry." He said, suddenly panicking. "Wait... what are Edd and Tom and Matt going to think?!" He said, biting his robotic fingers. "Oh this isn't good... no no no... Paul, break the law, just get us there. I have to come up with something to say..."


	9. Realization

Tom was fast asleep until Edd ran up and opened the door. "Hey guys, you've been asleep for a while now, come on wake up!" He half-shouted. Tom jolted awake and fell out of the bed with an "oof!". Edd looked around the room curiously. 

"Where's Tord?"

Tom got up, hand at head, and looked around. "He was here last night." He said. Edd narrowed his eyes a little. "Well if he's not in here, where is he?!" He started checking closets and under beds, in cars, wait... "There's car tracks on the ground! But our cars still here... wait, do you think something happened to him?!!" Edd panicked, turning to Tom who had followed in outside. 

"No, Tord has had all sorts of training. He wouldn't let someone come up behind him like that. And if they did, why was he outside in the first place?" Tom reasoned, thinking a good bit himself. "Should we call the police?" Edd asked, running his hand through his hair. Tom shook his head. "Give him a couple days. He told me a couple days ago that he likes going on walks early in the morning, so that may be it."

"But the tracks!!"

"Hush Edd, trust me!!" He said, not even trusting himself. "Give him some time, he'll be home." 

"......Okay." Edd walked back inside and pulled a chair up to the window. He propped his arms up and waited. Tom rolled his eyes and sat on the couch with Matt while they both watched TV. Matt turned to Tom. "He wasn't out there? Huh. I DID here the door shut last night... but I thought it was you guys." 

Edd snapped his head around. "Wait, Matt, you heard him leave??"

"Yeah, so?"

"Did you notice anything else last night?"

"I saw car lights really late last night and heard murmurs of someone talking in it, and then I heard it speed really fast away. I also saw a ladybug on the table." He reported. 

"Which direction did it go? Do you know?"

"Uhhh it flew away I think."

"The CAR Matt, the car!"

"Left. I think... that way." He pointed outside to the left. Edd grinned widely and hugged Matt. "Oh, you precious little dummy!! Tom, that's the way that there's almost all forest and stuff. Why else would someone go that way unless they were hiding something?? Tord could be hurt... or or... he could be DEAD!! We need to find him! He's not even fully healed!!"

Matt narrowed his eyes as Edd said 'dummy' and looked back at the TV. Tom's eyes widened a little in realization. "Oh yeah... but Edd... he's okay, trust me." He thought a second, then opened his mouth to say something. Instead, all three of them froze as a car drove into the driveway. 

Edd stared, wide-eyed. "Who. Is. That." He half-growled. Tom jumped at Edd's sudden hostility. He suddenly pushed past Tom and went for the door. "Edd, no, WAIT!!" Tom called out. Edd paid no mind to Tom, running outside to the car. "Where is he?!" He yelled through the tinted windows. 

Inside the car, Patryk jumped. "Tord!!" He said, causing Tord to turn around. "Oh... oh no oh no..." he muttered, opening the door and shoving his right hand in his pocket and the sleeve down. Edd stared as Tord got out, looking all shaken up. He gave him a huge hug. "We were so worried! We didn't know where you were, we thought you got taken or murdered or-- who are these people?!" He said suddenly, glaring at Paul and Patryk in a threatening way. 

"These are... some really old friends of mine. Edd... we uh.... I need to talk to you." He said, nervously rocking back and forth. Edd paled a little. "Is... is something wrong?" 

Tord pat his back and led him inside, nodding at Paul and giving him the go to leave. Paul drove more carefully out of the driveway this time. 

"Okay... Edd... Matt........ Tom... I need to explain something."

Tom crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes. "Yeah. You do." He spat. 

Tord sighed and began his story. "Well... I had noticed that my arm wasn't healing at all, no matter how hard you three worked to keep it in shape. So I contacted two of my old army friends to come and... take me back to the base... where I.... had...." he slowed down, becoming self-conscious. Edd shook his head nervously, hand over mouth. "No... no... Tord you... you didn't... please tell me you didn't..."

Tord looked down and brought his hand up out of his pocket. "I had a project I was working on at base. So Paul and Patryk helped me... and I was able to regain function in my arm." He finished, looking up. Edd looked distraught, Matt looked impressed, and Tom cringed. "That... ohhh.... did they have to..." he made a cutting gesture on his arm. Tord nodded, watching Tom cringe again. "So." He wrapped up, looking at Edd again. "That's where I was."

Edd slowed his breathing and looked down at the ground. He took a few steps towards Tord, who looked at him in a confused way. "Edd? What are y-" he stopped as he got hit hard in the face. Tom gasped. "Edd!!" He and Matt pulled him back as Tord stared off, dazed. 

"Why did you do that Tord?!! You talked about it with me and said you weren't going to do it!! YOU TOLD ME SOMETHING AND YOU LIED ABOUT IT!!!! SOUND FAMILIAR?!" Edd yelled, starting to cry. "I believed you!! Just like I believed you last time!! And the time before that!!! Look at all these chances I gave you, and you've thrown them ALL away!!!!" He finished, breathing heavily. 

Tord lightly put a hand to his face and stared at Edd. "I'm... sorry I lied to you Edd. I just didn't want you to worry--" Edd cut him off again. "For the record Tord, if you even THINK something is going to make me worry, DONT DO IT. You want to know why?!"

Tord blinked. 

"BECAUSE THAT'S!! WHAT FRIENDS!! DO!!" He yelled, stomping his foot angrily. "I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU." He said again, shoving past him and going to his room. He slammed the door shut, leaving all three of them staring. After a few minutes, Matt put a hand on Tord's shoulder. "He's just worried." He assured, looking where he got hit. "Oh, that's going to leave a mark. Not that your face was that great anyway... it's better without that." 

Tord forced a smile. Matt didn't do anything. "Thank you, Matt." 

Tom stopped himself from grinning and walked up to Tord. "Just a little taste of your own medicine, huh?" He said with a smile. Tord sighed and looked down. "I didn't know he'd be that bothered by it..." he muttered. Tom felt a little bad for him.

"Hey, just like Matt said, Edd was really worried when you weren't here this morning. He was just letting out all his stress. On your face." He said, choking on a laugh. "But realistically, he probably feels worse about hitting you than you do." He finished, patting his back assuringly. 

"I'll talk to him for you."


	10. Apology Accepted

Tom made his way over to Edd's room, and knocked on the door. He was let in, door closing behind him. Tord sighed and turned to Matt, who was sitting on the living room couch. He walked over and sat down near him.

"So is that like, a real, real robot arm?" Matt asked, scooting closer to see. Tord laughed. "Yes, it's really real. Do you want to touch it?" He asked, holding his arm out. Matt "ooh-ed" and "ah-ed" over it, looking at his reflection. "It's shiny."

It felt like hours before Tom came back, but in all reality it was about 5 minutes. Tom looked satisfied and Edd, sad. Tom stopped midway. "What are you two doing exactly?" He questioned, staring at Matt leaning up close to Tord and touching his arm.

Tord cleared his throat. "Uhm. Sitting."

"Naturally~" Tom teased. 

"Oh shut up." 

Edd walked from behind Tom and smiled at Tord. "Okay, before anyone even says anything, don't apologize, I....... overreacted -- a little, sorry." He struggled to get out. Tord smiled in response. "It's okay, Edd. I'm sorry too." He held out his free hand. "Friends again?"

"Yeah." Edd said, shaking his hand. 

"So, what're we going to do today, now that everyone's in here?" Tord asked, looking around the room. "I'm actually in the mood to do something."

Edd thought a second. "Hm.... Can we meet your other friends?" He asked curiously. Tord slightly panicked. "Ahfwbllllt, take no mind of them. They're more of aquaintances."

"Fine, then can we meet your 'aquaintances'?" 

Tord thought a second. "Well... they DO have the day off today..." he suddenly gasped and muttered to himself. "Oh Gud what if everyone's trying to over throw everyone I need to check on them wait no it's okay Paul and Pat have it under control okay okay--" He looked up to see Tom staring at him. 

"Are you done muttering the black sacrament to yourself?"

Tord's face turned red. "Yes. And we can go meet my acquaintances." He got up quickly, Matt frowning when he moved. "Out to the car. You driving Edd?" He asked, swinging the keys on his robot hand's finger. Edd narrowed his eyes. "You know what, I think Tom should drive." 

Tord sighed and handed the keys over. "Now I KNOW my car is going to be ruined." 

Tom grinned evilly. "Hahaha, I get to drive!! Don't worry, I won't crash it." He added, still smiling. Tord started his way outside with Edd following. Matt started to go, but Tom tapped his shoulder. "Hey Matt, I don't know what you and Edd were doing but you left your jacket in his room. Just saying." He said quietly, then ran off after the rest. 

Matt narrowed his eyes after Tom and didn't say anything. They all got in the car, Edd pushing Tord in the front to ride shotgun. "I did it yesterday." He said, closing the door for him. He ran back to his seat and flopped down in the back without a seatbelt. 

Matt crossed his arms. "Edd! Seatbelt!" He said, sticking his tongue out. "Blah blah, lookit me, I'm reSPONSIBLE." Edd sat up and buckled. "That's better." Matt said with a smile. 

Tord cleared his throat again, running off the directions to Tom. "So you're going to take a left here, take a right after that, and then go straight until I tell you so, is that clear?"

"Sir yes sir~" Tom said, shoving Tord's arm. "I'll do whatever you tell me to." He started up the car and followed the instructions. 

Tord rolled his jacket sleeve up to his arm. He tapped on a part of it and it lit up blue. "Call Patryk." He said, letting the arm register his voice. It rung for a few seconds before getting picked up. Patryk sounded like he got caught off guard. "T-Tord-- I mean sir!! What do you-- uh-- what do you need?"

"My friends wanted to meet you two. You aren't busy... are you?"

Patryk gave out a sigh. "No... we'll get ready, thank you for the warning sir." He shut off his phone. "They're ready for us." Tord announced importantly. "TOM, LEFT HERE!!" He suddenly yelled, and the car swerved left.

"Why weren't you looking at the road, you uvitende lure!!!" He scolded. Tom shrugged innocently. "You're distracting!!" 

"How am I distracting?!"

"Have you seen yourself?"

"Oh my god shut it." Tord half-growled, rolling his eyes. He looked back at the road. "Now the right right there."

"Right, right right." He said, catching the turn in time. "I swear to God every time we get in this car I think it's my last breath." Tord muttered. In the back it was completely silent, so Tord turned around curiously-- only to see Edd and Matt asleep and cuddling each other. 

Tom glanced in the mirror and narrowed his eyes at the road. "Why can't we do that?" He mumbled quietly. "What Tom?"

"I said there's a snake in the road." He said, very loud.

The car hit a bump and Tord shuddered. "Snake?!"

"It was a joke. We take a turn here, right?"

"Uhm.. yes.. just do what I tell you to do."

"Oh so you're the demanding type. I see."

Tord rolled his eyes again, looking out the window. About twenty minutes later, they arrived at their destination. 

"Okay, slow down. Aaaaannnd stop!" Tord said, not waiting for the car to fully park before jumping out and striding to the door. 

Edd and Matt had woken up, and followed the others up to the door as well. Tord grinned widely, presenting Paul and Patryck with wide arms. "I present my acquaintances!"

 


	11. Aquaintances

Paul and Patryck saluted at the same time.  
"Paul."  
"Patryck."  
"Tord!"  
Tord gave the two another hug, though it isn't really his thing. "Sorry about coming in your free time. These three are nosy." He said, jerking his head back towards the rest of them.

Patryck waved a hand carelessly. "Oh, it doesn't matter Tord." He and Paul put their salutes down, replacing them with outstretched offers for handshakes.

They all shook hands, introducing eachother.  
"Edd!"  
"Matt!"  
"Tom."

After being introduced, Paul motioned them to come inside. They all followed Tord, now knowing who the two were but still not wholely familiar.

Edd picked up something from a counter and was messing with it while they spoke. "Make yourself at home! It's not much, but it's something." Patryck announced, sitting down on the couch.

Paul came up behind Edd and took the object from his hands. "You light it like this, kid." He said coolly, lighting a cigarette in his mouth. He threw Edd the lighter and he stared at it for a while, trying to get it to work again.

Tom stared after Paul. "I like him. He's cool." He said, elbowing Edd. Edd nodded, setting the lighter back down on the counter and sat down in the floor in front of the couch.

"So... is this where you went right after... you know...?" Edd asked curiously. Tord tried his best to look unphased by bringing up the past, but ended up making a weird face. "Yes. I came here." He said coldly. "I'm lucky I have not only good soldiers, but good friends."

He smiled and ruffled Paul's hair. "Heh. Just doin' our job." He responded, laughing nervously. Patryck held a hand to his heart dramatically and sniffed. Stopping suddenly, he clapped a hand to his face. "Are you guys hungry? I was going to make food. You can stay for food." He offered, already running to the kitchen.

"Do you have any cola?"

"Yes, actually!"

"Deal." 

Tom sat where Patryck was and started having small talk with Paul. 

"So how long have you been in this army business?"

"About as long as I can remember. Seems like forever."

Tord rolled his eyes. "You're not THAT old."

"Says probably the world's youngest commander."

"So flattering~"

They laughed wholeheartedly for a while. Off days were fun.

"You seem close." Edd said with a saddish smile. His eyes drifted to a picture on the shelf over the fake fireplace. "Hey what's that?"

Everyone's heads turned to where he was pointing except for Tom. He was trying not to laugh at the most embarrassed face Tord had made as long as he had known him.

"Nothing!!" He yelled in a higher pitch than normal, running in front of it. Before he could grab it, Paul had it in his hands and was showing it off to Edd.

"Ah, this is an old one. Patryk and I used to take care of Tordie like he was our own kid..."

"Paul!!"

"And for about a month he was begging us to get a pet. Of course we couldn't afford to have one-- our base is definitely no place for a dog or a cat. So we brought him to a pet store and let him walk around for the day." 

Patryk walked in, setting down some grilled cheese sandwiches and smiling at Paul's story. He walked back to the kitchen, ruffling Tord's hair along the way.

"He was so excited. He actually made friends with a cat named Yoo-hoo." He said, pointing at the cat in the photograph.

"Shut up Paul!" Tord screeched, diving for the picture. Paul raised it just out of his reach and handed it to Tom.

"Awwww it's a baby commie!" He said, sticking out his tongue. The picture was pretty cute. It was Paul behind Tord, who was chasing after a black and white cat.

Tord finally caught up with the location of the photo and stole it from Tom, placing it back on the mantle. 

"Story time is over, let's eat."

Everyone dug into their food except for Tord. He spent his whole time narrowing his eyes at Tom, who kept on making faces at him across the coffee table.

"Speaking of that old cat, how's your cat been doing, Edd?" Patryk said.

Edd widened his eyes in surprise. "Ringo's just fine... but how do you know that I had a cat?" 

He laughed. "Ringo was the base of half the conversations Tord had with us about your house. Seems he liked that cat more than anyone."

"That's a lie!" Tord objected, face turning red again. "I'm not an animal person anymore."

Edd laughed at this new information. "You always said you hated Ringo! You DO have a soft spot for him, I knew it!!"

"UGH SHUT UP!!" Tord got up from the table and stomped to the kitchen angrily. Tom put down his sandwich and followed, leaving everyone else laughing.

Tom slowly entered the doorway. "Tooooooord?" He called quietly. Tord appeared from behind the counter, rolling his eyes. "Go away Tom, I'm not in the mood."

"Oh, come ooooon, you're never in the mood." He walked up behind him, patting his shoulders. "Tom what are you doing?"

"You want a massage? You seem stressed." 

"You're kidding."

"Nope, not kidding. I could just be tricking you into letting me snap your neck, or I could be actually sincere and massage you."

Tord rolled his eyes again. 

"Neither sound that bad right now." 

"So is that a yeeesssss??"

"Why not."


	12. He's Being Nice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just now fully recovering from tonsillectomy and seeing my older brother who just got his appendix removed. Been a little busy, so sorry guys! I've mostly just been reading rather than writing. (jackinthebox123 has a reeeeally good story you should check out) but anyway, here's another chapter! Thanks for waiting on me~
> 
> (Got a lil bit moar tomtord fluff)

Tom grinned happily, rubbing a little harsher. Tord had to admit, it felt very nice. He sighed and closed his eyes, trying to relax. 

He continued for about 5 minutes before lightening up a bit. Tord made a noise of disappointment. 

"Was that good?"

"Yeah... thanks."

Tom kept his hands on his shoulders, lightly rubbing back and forth now. Without even thinking it through, he started to trace his hands down his sides. 

Tord made a "yip" sort of noise, whipping around and grabbing one of his hands. Tom looked startled. 

"What was that?!"

"I don't know I just did it!"

Tord glared at Tom for a second, then sighed. He looked back at him with a sort of embarrassed face. 

"Can you do it again?"

"What?"

"Can you... doitagain"

"You're mumbling--"

Tord's face was red now, and he whisper yelled at Tom. 

"THAT FELT NICE, PLEASE DO IT AGAIN"

Tom seductively raised an eyebrow, grinning. 

"I heard you the first time, just wanted to hear it again~"

Tord huffed in frustration as Tom lightly started running his hands up and down his sides.

"Jesus, you're like a cat or something."

Tom reached for his hair, but stopped when Tord glared at him angrily. "No."

Tom shrugged, bringing his arms back down. He went down to his hips and tried to snake into his hoodie before Tord shot him a look. 

He shrugged innocently, smiling. 

"It might feel even better if I do it under your thick old hoodie!"

"It's not old..."

Tord waited a moment before slowly nodding. Tom grinned and slipped his hands under his hoodie and his shirt, making him jump.

"You're hands are so warm..."

Tom blushed a little, moving to take off the hoodie. Tord held up a hand for him to stop. He looked out into the other room, making sure no one was looking. 

Tom pushed Tord into the corner of the room, where no one could see unless they walked in.

"You looked worried there. Can I take it off now?" Tom asked impatiently. 

"... okay..."

Tom slipped off his hoodie and set it on the counter, massaging his shoulders again. 

"Someone would think the wrong thing was happening here if they weren't explained." He noted, making his shoulder pop. 

"Ouch!"

"Sorry."

He continued that for another few minutes before sliding his hands down as he did earlier and pulling at his shirt. 

"Tom."

"Tord."

Tord stared him down before giving up. He internally cringed as Tom slipped his shirt up and set it down. ~Why did I do that?~ Tord thought angrily to himself. He felt like he just surrendered. It was not a feeling he's felt often. 

Tom cautiously reached up to his shoulders again, massaging once more. He couldn't help but stare at how rough he looked. 

"Kind of hard to massage metal."

"Shut up you don't have to."

Tom put a little bit of pressure on Tord, forcing him to sit down. Then he sat behind him, still continuing. 

After what seemed like forever, Tord sighed sleepily. "Thanks Tom."

"No problem, just being a good friend."

They smiled at each other for a moment, both leaning in slightly. Tord bent his head down slightly to match Tom's. As they're faces were about an inch apart, there was another voice in the kitchen. 

"Hey guys!"

Tord gasped in surprise and whipped around, staring at Matt with wide eyes. 

"M-Matt!! What are you doing!!?"

Matt blinked. "Edd told me to check on you two! You were gone for about thirty minutes, and he wanted to make sure you guys didn't kill each other. But he was too lazy to get up, so I did instead!"

Tom stepped out in front of Tord, walking over to Matt. He turned him away from the scene and laughed casually. 

"Everything is okay here. Nothing to worry about. I was helping Tord with his bandages that got twisted up."

Tord stared in awe at Tom. ~How did he think of something that fast?~ He took the opportunity to snatch his shirt and hoodie, throwing it back on. 

Matt smiled obliviously. "Oh cool! Do you guys want to come back? Patryk is telling a story about the time they fought zombies!!"

Tom ruffled Matt's hair. "Yeah sure, lead the way."

After fixing his hair quickly, Matt skipped past Tom into the living room. Tord snuck up behind him, about to walk by when Tom turned around, putting his hands on the counter either side of Tord.

Tord blushed slightly, and shot a confused look. "Tom wh-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Tom tilted his head up and pressed his lips against Tord's. They stayed there for at least 10 seconds, before Tom backed away. 

Tord stared after Tom, who darted away into the living room before he could even say anything. 


	13. Think About It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm sleepy and my throats still hurts but I don't care take another chapter >:D

Edd watched as Matt enthusiastically returned to his old spot on the floor, grinning. Before he could ask about the two, he saw Tom walk in slightly red-faced. 

Should he question? 

He thought for a moment before waving at Tom. "Just in time to hear the end!" He noted, pointing a thumb back at Patryk. Tom raised his eyebrow sarcastically. "Cool."

Patryk cleared his throat and continued his story. "By that time, we had already made it into the arcade area. The whole park was full of them--- I don't even know what caused it-- but the arcade seemed like a safe haven..."

Tord quietly slipped in, taking a spot next to Matt. He tried his best to focus on Patryk's story, but couldn't help but notice Tom staring at him. 

Tom smiled, causing Tord to roll his eyes and stare at Patryk. 

"The thing-- zombie-- whatever you called it, came up behind us. Paul noticed, and 'heroically' shoved me out of the way."

Paul straightened up a bit, trying his best to look prideful. 

"He went to shoot it, but the bastard flung its arm up to his gun. It made Paul's gun rest in front of his eye, so when he shot it, the backlash knocked a clear cut into him."

"I got scars to prove it too." Paul said, pointing at a triangular scar just below his left eye. "The eye's not blind, if you were wondering. It hit right under it."

Edd stared in amazement, imagining the whole scene in his head. He tended to do that when reading or listening. Active imagination.

"What happened after that?" Matt asked, tilting his head in curiosity. 

Patryk laughed. "After that, I had to carry him out of there. We got to safety, thankfully, but realized we left his gun. He does not leave his gun anywhere, of course, so I went back to get it."

Paul piped up, adding to the story. "Yeah, and some kid got a hold of it tryna shoot some of those zombies. The little daredevil. Probably would've like him."

Tom spaced out, thinking hard about what Paul said. Didn't he use someone's gun in an arcade? He gave it to a kid, didn't he? He glanced around nervously and shoved it off as some drunk dream. 

"But it all ended okay, obviously. We're alive and well." Patryk finished, grinning. "You guys are good listeners. Tord's always trying to cut in and tell another story! Speaking of which, what's with you? You've been pretty quiet."

Tord looked up from the floor at the mention of his name. "That story was pretty cool, that's all. I don't think I've heard it before."

After a couple seconds, he stood up. "I think it's about time we leave."

Matt frowned, and Edd looked surprised. "Wait, why? We're having a great time!" Edd objected. 

"Yes, but these two live busy lives. This is just about their only free timmmmmm..." He trailed off, holding out a syllable. Suddenly his eyes brightened with an idea. 

"Come with us."

"What?!" Paul and Patryk said in unison. Tord grinned in excitement. "Come with us!! Leave the army-- I can find you a job and a place to live."

Everyone stared at Tord as if he just murdered a puppy. "But what about the army, Tord? If we're not there holding off for you... you'll basically lose it!"

"I don't care anymore, Pat, I don't want the burden of this army. I've given my whole life into it, and it's gotten me nowhere. Come with us."

Paul and Patryk uneasily glanced at each other. Edd stood up excitedly-- he lived for new ideas. "Tom owns an apartment!!" He blurted out. "You could live there-- that's where we stay."

Paul and Patryk turned to Tom, who shrugged. "I don't mind. You're cool."

Patryk scratched his neck nervously, looking back at Tord. "We.... we'd have to... we need some time..."

Tord nodded respectfully. "I figured such. Just... think about it, okay? I miss seeing you guys... not just as my comrades... but... as my friends..." he said, getting quieter as he spoke.

Patryk sniffed dramatically, and Paul smiled slightly. "We'll call you when we decide."

"Thank you."

Everyone said their goodbyes as Edd, Matt, Tord, and Tom made their way back to the car. They returned to their previous spots, riding in silence (besides Matt's obnoxious humming). It took a while for someone to speak, but when they finally did, it was Edd. "So what happened in the kitchen?" Tord looked out the window, forcing himself to look angry instead of embarrassed. Matt stopped humming. "Tom was helping Ted-- Tord-- with his bandage thingies." Edd seemed to accept the excuse and decided not to push it further. "Okay." He turned to look out the window. They finally arrived back home, not bored anymore. They all made their way inside, all kind of gathering in the kitchen. "So what to do now..." Edd started. "Time to reLAX" Tom called, throwing himself on the couch. "Aaaaaahhh. No one touch me for the next half-- no-- two hours." He pulled out his flask and drank out of it. Edd rolled his eyes, messing with the magnetic letters on the fridge. It currently spelled out 'Matt', and was holding a picture of-- oh what a surprise-- Matt. "Hey Tord, come here" Tom called from the other room. Tord rolled his eyes at the look Edd shot him, walking into the other room. Tom reached his arms out, nearly falling off the couch. Tord raised an eyebrow. "What are you trying to ask?" "Come sssit with meeeee!" He said in a whiny voice. Tord narrowed his eyes skeptically. "You're taking up all the space." Tom huffed. "Doesn't matter, I don't mind you touching me~" "No." "Pleeeeaaaaaase?" "No." "ToooooooooorrDDDD" "No." Tom rolled himself off the couch, groaning. Tord took the chance to snatch his flask and put it on the mantle. He bent down, picking Tom back up and setting him on the couch. "I'm lonelyyyyy" Tord facepalmed. "You are, aren't you?" After getting tired of hearing Tom's angry noises, he sat on the couch and curled up in the corner.


	14. Confession

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> OWO

Tom narrowed his eyes.  
"Come heeeeeeere!"  
"I am here!"  
"Not all the way over there, over here!"

Tord grumbled about something under his breath, but lied down in front of Tom on the couch. "There. Are you happy?"

Tom nodded, reaching his arms out and hugging Tord. For once, he didn't stop him. He smiled, hugging back and closing his eyes. When he opened them, he caught sight of Edd staring from the doorway, sipping his coke. When Tord saw him, he almost choked for a second. Tord took the chance to pretend something else was happening. He tightened his grip on Tom, swung to the left, and threw him off the couch.

"I WIN!!" He yelled. Edd spittook some soda, laughing hard. "Tord, what the heck?!"

Tom groaned, standing back up. "Jerk." 

Tord shrugged innocently. "I should take him back to his room." He said, causing Edd to narrow his eyes and make his best 'kitty' face. "Yeah. You should."

He backed out with a mischievous look on his face. Once in the kitchen, he leaned an arm on the counter and winked at Matt. "Yeah I know what they're doing."

"What are they doing?" Matt asked, drawing on a notepad. Edd laughed. "They loooooooove each other Matt."

Matt threw down the pen with a gasp. "Edd!" He yelled, shoving him in the arm playfully. "Did they say that?!"

"No, but sometimes you have to read 'inbetween' the lines, get my drift?"

Matt smiled, not understanding. 

"What were they REALLY doing in the kitchen?" Edd asked, knowing Matt was there earlier. 

Matt looked confused. "I told you already!"

"No no no, I mean what did you see them do?"

Matt thought a moment, trying hard to remember. "When I walked in, they were in the corner of the kitchen, on the ground, real close to each other."

"How close?"

Matt leaned across the counter, about an inch away from Edd's face. Edd blushed slightly at Matt's lack of personal space. "This close."

"Yeaaaaah they love each other." Edd said, ruffling Matt's hair. Matt hissed, fixing it. "Why does everyone do that?"

"Because it's cyute and floofy!"

Tord trudged to the doorway, carrying Tom on his shoulders. Matt ran to his notepad, showing it off. "Tord! Tord! Look at what I drew! His name is David."

Tord's pained expression softened. "Oh cool, Matt. Is that a ladybug?"

Matt nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! It's the one I saw that flew away." He sniffed dramatically. "The one that got away~"

Edd smacked him in the back of the head, laughing. "Dude seriously?"

Tord rolled his eyes at the two, walking outside. Thankfully Tom's room was right across the hall. He looked both ways as if it were a street, and then proceeded into the room. 

It was nice and tidy. Not something he'd expect from Tom, actually. He kicked the door open, and backed into it to close it. Then he walked to his bed and threw Tom down.

He turned to leave, but Tom grabbed his arm. "Stay." He said, trying his best to keep his eyes open.

Tord sighed loudly. "I thought I got rid of you." He said in annoyance, stepping onto the bed. He curled up in the corner again, not touching Tom. 

At least he was sobering up a little. He didn't have that much to drink. Tom stared at the ceiling restlessly. After a few minutes of that, he felt Tord lay down beside him, staring at the ceiling as well. 

"What's so interesting up there?" He asked curiously. 

"It's not the ceiling that's interesting. It's the thoughts that follow spacing out. The ceiling's just easy to stare at."

Tord stared, dazed. "You say the weirdest things."

Tom shrugged. "Just part of my weird nature. What you say isn't that normal either."

"Fair point."

Tom poked the tip of Tord's hair, sticking his tongue out. "Point."

He rolled his eyes, lightly taking his hand and setting it down on the bed. Tom slowly curled his fingers around Tord's and scooted closer to him.

He lied his head under his chin, curling up. Tord smiled, using his free hand to start petting his hair. After a minute or two, Tord spoke. "So when are you going to say it?"

Tom stayed in the same position. "Say what?"

"This.... thing."  
"Hm?"  
"This little... unspoken thing we have."  
"..."

Tom went silent a moment, before answering quietly. "The thing as in I... think I... kind of like you?"

Tord smiled, staring up at the ceiling. 

"I do too."


	15. Nice Night

Tom sat up, surprised. "What??" He asked. Tord shrugged. "I do too. I like you."

Tom blinked at him, then slowly laid his head back down. "I didn't think you were like that..... didn't you have a girlfriend before?"

"Yes... but obviously that didn't work out. Long time ago." Tord said, glancing to the left. Not a good memory. 

"So...... what now? You wanna like... I don't know..."

"Go out?" Tord finished. 

"Y-Yeah. That."

"Sure, why not."

Tord continued to stare at the ceiling, not hearing anything else from Tom. After a few minutes, he looked down to find him asleep with a small smile on his face. 

"Good night Thomas." He said, closing his own eyes. Another long day. Another GREAT long day, actually. Everything was going right in his life for once. 

With this happy thought, Tord fell asleep smiling as well. But unfortunately it didn't last long. Everything went black. He couldn't see or hear anything. 

~Dreaming.~ Tord reminded himself. He hated these. Hate hate hate. 

"Hello?" He called out, getting an echo of his own voice. He started to panic, and lowered himself to the ground. He sat down, arms around his knees. 

"Dreaming." He reminded himself again. The air suddenly smelled like smoke. Not this. Why this? No no no...

Tord heard a voice call his name. He shot up, alert. 

"Mom?" He asked quietly. 

Next thing he knew, his eyes shot open. Tom was right in front of his face, looking worried. "What is it Tom??"

"You were... you were talking."  
"I was?"  
"Yeah. In your sleep. It was really freaky."

Tord sighed, then smiled reassuringly. "It's nothing. I do that sometimes, just don't mind it."

"What were you dreaming about?"  
"Nothing. Good night Tom."

Though still dying of curiosity, Tom nodded and laid back down. Tord didn't dare fall back asleep. Not that dream. 

He stared at the ceiling, forcing himself to stay awake. He watched the hours tick by in what felt like minutes. 12. 1. 2. 3. 4. 

The door made a sudden rattling noise, as if someone were trying to get in. Tord shot up, one arm around Tom defensively. 

When it rattled again, Tord reached into his hoodie pocket and pulled out one of his lucky pistols. 

Tom woke with a start, staring at the door. "Tord?!" 

"Sh!" 

The door opened, creaking open slowly. Dim light flooded the room, preventing the two from seeing who it was. 

"Who's there?!" Tord growled, his finger already on the trigger. Suddenly the lights flicked on, and Tord sighed in relief at the familiar face.

"Patryk?! What are you doing here?" He asked, putting his gun up and getting out of bed. Patryk put his hands down from the surrendering position and pointed outside. 

"We decided to live here. I was told by Edd to come in here to let you two know we were here. I was unaware I was interrupting something."

Tord blushed slightly. "W-We aren't doing anything. Don't tell anyone whatever you saw, understood?"

Patryk rolled his eyes. "Sure thing. Now which room do Paul and I go?"

Tom pointed outside. "Just left of Matt's room. You'll know it when you see it. Has a picture of him on the door."

Patryk gave a thumbs up and left the room, closing the door behind him. Tord smiled widely, looking at Tom. 

"They accepted my offer!"  
"You thought they wouldn't?"  
"I don't know... I didn't know if they were ready to give that much up. It'll be great with them around."

Tom elbowed Tord's arm, winking. "Aw look at youuuu, being all positive!"

"Shut up." Tord laughed. They sat back again on the bed, like they were earlier that night. 

After a minute, Tord turned to Tom. "You know... it felt really nice when you kissed me before."

"Knew it."   
"Shut it! I'm serious. Could we... do something like that again sometime?"  
"Sometime? Oh we could do MORE than that-- if you ever want to."

Tord narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean whatever you take that as."  
"You're so dodgy."  
"You're hard to get, stupid."  
"You're stupid."

Tom rolled his eyes. "You're mom's stupid." He muttered. Tord punched his shoulder in response, then sat up again. 

"But seriously, whenever you want to do anything, let me know. I'll be one of those guys." Tom said, sitting up with him. 

Tord blushed slightly at his comment. "That's cheesy."

"You're cheesy."  
"Can you stop with that?"  
"I'll stop if I can kiss you?"

Tom slipped his arms around Tord, putting his head on his shoulder. Tord thought a minute. "I don't know which one is worse."

"Oh don't be like that!"  
"Kidding. Sure you can."

Tom quickly moved to the front of Tord, holding his face in his hands. "Cute lil baby face. It's so soft~"

Tord jabbed his side with his knee, making him 'oof!'. "What was that for?"

"Being cheesy."  
"Fine. I'll be 'cool' for you."

He leaned in, kissing Tord again. Tord reached up, curling his arms around Tom's neck. They stayed there for a few seconds, before Tom moved back. 

"Was that better?"  
"It was okay, I guess."  
"Okay?! You have some standards there, mister."  
"I come from an expensive family."  
"Do you now?"  
"We have very high taste."  
"Well dang, looks like I'll have to work on that."

Tord glanced over at the clock, seeing that it was around the time Edd got up. If he were to walk in on this... 

"Yeah I was thinking that too. Let's go see how Edd and Matt are doing." Tom said, noticing his look. 

Tord sadly nodded, letting go of Tom and getting up off the bed. "So... do you want to just tell them?"

Tom thought for a moment. "I don't know... I think Edd has already caught on. It won't change anything for Matt. He probably won't even remember."

"Good old Matt. So we can tell Edd?"  
"Why not. It'll relieve some stress. After you?"

Tom held his hand out, and Tord took it. Tom led the way out the door and into the hallway. He walked across to Edd's room. 

Tom knocked, and within 3 seconds of making the noise, Edd was already opening the door. 

"Good morning, Tom! Good morning, Tord! You guys are up early."  
"Hi Edd. Can we come in? I have... something to say."


	16. Tom Dies

"The mini fridge shorted out again." Tom said, feigning a very serious look. 

Edd rolled his eyes. "Again?"

"Yes. I'm sorry."  
"That's not what you were going to say."

Tom snapped his fingers. "Dangit, how did you know?" Tord had already covered his face at this point. He didn't want to see Edd's reaction at all. 

What if he didn't like it? What if he got mad at him for dating his best friend? What would he even think of him...

"I think... it should be known to you-- because you're my best friend-- that... Tord and I are..."

Edd blinked, tilting his head in confusion. "Arrrrreeeee....?"

"Dating. Yeah. We're dating."  
"Like... date dating?"  
"Yeah."  
"You two kiss and stuff?"  
"If he wants to, yeah."

Edd grinned widely, pumping a fist into the air. "YES!! I CALLED it!! Didn't I call it, Matt?"

Matt's head popped out from the living room. "Yep!"

"Boom! Yesssss!"

Tord looked at Tom in confusion, and then back at Edd. "You're not... well... mad?"

"No! Why would I be mad? My two friends are happy!" Edd reaches out, giving them both a big hug. He motioned them to come in, leading them to the living room. 

Paul and Patryk were sitting on the couch with Matt. Patryk shot Tord a glance, and Tord rolled his eyes in response. 

"If it helps, Matt and I have had a thing for a while." 

Tom blinked slowly, turning his head. "What?" On the other hand, Tord stares off into the distance. Nothing has meaning anymore. Does life have meaning? What is life? Is this real?

Matt gave a thumbs up from the couch, smiling. "Yep!"

"But... what?! That's... ugh Edd however awesome you are, you're hurting my brain. Matt?!" Tom said, trying not to laugh. "Of all people?"

"Yes."

Edd sat down in one of the chairs, sipping some more cola. He never ran out. Ever. Tord and Tom sat next to each other on the floor, looking at everyone. 

"Okay. Okay. So... let me get this straight. We--" Matt pointed at Edd and then himself. "Are dating. Aaaaand... you--" he pointed at Tom and Tord. "Are dating. And you two.... are dating."

Paul shrugged and Patryk nodded. Everyone let those statements sink into Matt's head. A couple seconds later he smiled. "Okay! I think I have it now."

"But really, what happened? I thought you two couldn't stand to be around each other." Edd said, leaning over and elbowing Tom. 

He laughed nervously in response. "I don't know... I just........ I guess it changed for the better." He glanced up at Paul and Patryk and back down at the floor quickly. 

Tord narrowed his eyes suspiciously. He leaned close to Tom and whispered. "What's wrong?"

"I think your parents are judging me." Tom responded quietly. Tord looked up to see Patryk occasionally narrow his eyes at Tom.

"Don't mind them. They're a little protective..." Tord muttered, laughing quietly. Tom nodded, cowering a little behind Tord- despite his reassurance. 

Edd looked up thoughtfully. "Hey, you guys wanna play a game or something? We can pull out some truth or dare...? Maybe twister? Seven minutes of heaven~?" He said, looking at Tom on that last one. 

"No." Tom said, getting an elbow to the side from Tord. "Don't be rude! We can play something if you want, Edd."

"SpouSAL ABUSE" Tom yelled, dramatically holding his side. "Augh.... I think.... I think I have some internal bleeding..."

"Tom stop--"  
"You did this to me..."  
"Tom!"  
"I'm dead."

Tom flopped himself on Tord's lap, closing his eyes. This was ridiculous. Edd tsked, shaking his head. "You killed him Tord. Such a good life ahead of him.

~Seriously Edd?!~

"Tom's dead?! Oh no!"  
"Wait Matt-- it's a joke--"  
"NOOOOOOOO!!!!"

Edd ran over to pat Matt's back, comforting him. "He was such a good guy! I miss Tom already!" He cried out, sniffing. He gasped as Tom sat up. 

"Oh no. I'm back from the dead. I've come to seek reVENGE!!" Tom yelled, lunging at Tord. "HVA?!" Tord quickly pushed himself out of the way, rolling, and standing up over Tom. 

"Oh no, he's skilled." Tom muttered to himself, getting in a fighting stance. Tord rolled his eyes and held up his arms to block anything. Firearms were fun, but number two on Tord's list was hand to hand combat. It was exhilarating.

Tom swung a light punch, obviously having no intentions to hurt anyone. Tord blocked it as if it were a normal one, grabbed Tom's arm, and managed to pin him down within seconds. 

"Damn right I'm skilled." He said, letting go and standing up. Tom got up, dazed and staring. "Dude. You have to show me how to do that."

Tord was about to object when Matt shot from the couch, tackle hugging Tom. "YOU'RE ALIIIIIVE!!"

"Oh Matt..." Tord and Edd said at the same time. "Jinx!" Edd said, pointing at Tord. "COMMIE COMMIE COMMIE!" Tom yelled past Matt. 

"Aw man."


	17. Twister

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hmmmmmm there is some lovestuff in this chapter definitely
> 
> Longer chapter but uhhhh  
> If you don't like lovey stuff that's not smut but really close to smut then I guess I wouldn't read that part xD

"So anyway, back to way way earlier-- anyone want to play a game?" Edd asked, emptying the last of his can. 

Paul groaned, throwing his head back on the couch and closing his eyes. "Paul, wake up." 

Matt was more enthused than any of them, jumping up and down. "We could play Twister! Or truth or dare-- oh! I have that headbands game!! AH! Monopoly!!"

Edd laughed at Matt's childlike energy. "We can't do all of them, but we can choose one. Hmmm... Twister sounds nice. What about you guys?"

Patryk shrugged, kicking Paul's foot. No response. "I don't play many games, but I can spin the spinner if you want."

"Great! Twister it is then!" Edd said, clapping his hands together. Tom glanced warily at Tord, who just smiled back. 

Matt ran into the hall, then took a sharp turn into his room. He dug through a lot of junk before finding the old box. He blew the dust off it. "Dirty old thing."

He ran out of his room and back into Edd's, closing the door behind him. "Jeez, Eddy, It's like you're hosting a little party here!"

Edd laughed, grabbing the box and opening it up. "Here." He said, shoving the spinner in Patryk's hands. He took out the mat, unfolding it with a big 'woosh'. 

"Okay, take off your shoes." He told everyone. Tom frowned. "I like my shoes."

"Just take them off."

Tom scowled as he took off his shoes, along with Edd, Tord, and Matt. Patryk sat cross legged on the couch, getting ready to spin. "So who's first?"

"Hm... either Edd-- the leader, or Matt-- the one who believes he is first and best in everything, or Tord-- well-- Tord. Tricky decision..." Tom said sarcastically, although Matt seemed to take his statement as a compliment. 

"I'll go first." Edd said, cracking his knuckles. Patryk spun the wheel. "Left foot on blue."

Edd moved to match the position that was called out, smirking at Tom. "Ha. Simple."

Tom narrowed his eyes challengingly. "I'll go next."

"Right hand on yellow."  
"Oh god I have to bend over already."

Tom groaned, but did as he was directed to. Matt went next. 

"Right foot on blue." 

Matt and Edd stood together. "Hello Edd!"  
"Hello Matt!"

"Aaaanndddd Tord-- left hand on green."

Tord reluctantly did so, finding himself facing directly at Tom. He looked a little tired from holding himself up, but smiled anyway. 

"Edd: right hand on red."  
"Dearie me that's odd."

Matt leaned back as far as possible to let Edd reach back and touch it. "Thanks." He whispered. 

"Tom: left hand on red."

Tom placed his hand on Tord's hoodie. 

"Seriously."  
"Okay, fine."

Tom stretched himself as far as he could to touch the red dot, and eventually gave up. He flopped down, stretching his arms from green to red. 

"Matt: left foot on yellow."  
"Ah, that's easy!"  
"Tord: left foot on green."

Tord grumbled something under his breath, but followed along. 

"Left hand on red."  
"Oh come on!!"

"Left foot on green."

Tom lazily propped his knee up. "Done."

"Right hand on yellow."  
"Oh no!"

Matt effortlessly reached the yellow dot with his long arms. He glanced back at Edd, laughing at how hard he was struggling. 

"Right hand on yellow."

~Dritt.~

Just what he was hoping not to happen. Tord awkwardly reached over Tom and placed his hand on the dots on either sir of him. 

"Don't. Say. A word." He said angrily as Tom opened his mouth to say something. 

The game continued, until Tom forfeit. Edd was secretly relieved, but would never tell that to Tom. He pumped his fists in the air, instead. "I WIN."

Patryk handed the spinner back, leaning his head against Paul. "You awake?"  
"Hmmmmnnn"  
"Okay."

As Tord was about to sit in the chair, Tom grabbed his side. He jumped, holding back a noise of surprise. "Who knew you were so good at following directions? We can make use of that elsewhere~" Tom whispered in his ear.

Tord's face burnt up, and he shoved himself away from him. "Tom!" He yelled, stomping off to the seat and sitting down. Not even a few seconds later, Tom climbed in the seat too, facing him. 

"That's not how you sit in a chair."  
"You were in the way."  
"Well... hm..."  
"Don't make excuses, let it happen."

Tom grinned, using one hand to push against his chest and the other hand to run a finger up the side of his face. 

Edd sat down on the couch with the other three, staring at what was happening. Patryk was occupied with Paul, Paul was asleep, Matt was staring at God knows what, and poor Edd was unfortunately left being the only one to notice. 

"Tom what are you doing?!" Tord whispered urgently, feeling the heat from embarrassment spreading across his face. Tom leaned in closer. "I like to see you blush~"

"Edd, save yourself, just look away."

Edd leaned back in the couch casually, sipping his cola. "Nah. This isn't actually that bad. Carry on."

Not even giving him enough time to turn around, Tom forced a kiss onto Tord. Tord tried to lean into it, but Tom wasn't letting him move at all. Jesus, he underestimated him. 

After what seemed like forever, Tord had to put his hands on Tom's shoulders and pry him away from his face, breathing heavily. "Tom... give me a break..."

"Did I say you could have one?"  
"N-No-- but-- I mean just..."  
"Then no."

Tom leaned in and continued what he was doing. Tord didn't know how to react, really. His mind was going through different things. ~Did he just do that? That's a challenge. He thinks he's better than you. This is war~

Lost in thought, Tord tried to get any leading position he didn't know existed. He reached his hands up again, placed them on Tom's chest, and was about to push him off when Tom put all his body weight on him. 

In the corner of the couch, Edd shrunk back. ~should I intervene?~ he thought to himself, knowing how Tom's a *little* unstable sometimes. When he gets even a little drunk, he tends to not have any sense of personal space. 

Tom finally stopped the kiss, but stayed close to Tord's face. They both were trying to steady their breathing again. "Can I move now?"  
"No."

Tord looked at Tom with an exhausted look. "Tom..."

Tom did the face stroking thing again for a while, muttering about how soft it was, and of course receiving some kind of punch or kick anytime he said something. 

"One more kiss." Tom said, smiling innocently. Tord sighed, smiling back. "Sure."

Tom's smile disappeared immediately, and he kissed Tord as hard as he could. ~let's see if he notices~ he thought to himself with an internal smirk. 

He went to use his tongue, but immediately heard a noise like "NUH UH" come from Tord. Tom pushed it off, and attempted once more, and in response Tord had pursed his lips together. 

He was really making this hard. Trying to think fast, Tom grabbed Tord's side like he had earlier. Tord gasped in surprise, and of course Tom took it to start using his tongue with the kiss. 

Tord made another angry sort of noise, and kneed Tom hard in the stomach, but he didn't stop until a few moments later. 

Tom grinned, wiping his mouth with his sleeve and sitting up off of Tord a little bit. Tord stuck his tongue out, wiping his face furiously. "Ew."

Edd glance over to see if Paul or Patryk saw ANY of that, but only found the two curled up and asleep. Great. Now Edd has to live with that memory. Whatever.


	18. Relaxation

"You're crazy." Tord said, shaking his head. Tom laid his head on his chest. He was just going to make this a normal thing now. "What do you mean?"

"I clearly said no."  
"Consider it payback."

Tord rolled his eyes in frustration, petting Tom's hair without realizing it. Tom noticed him fall into the routine and couldn't help but smile. 

Edd got up off the couch, taking another quick glance at the two. "Hey where are you going?" Matt asked with a frown. He wasn't paying attention to any of his surroundings, but of course he'd notice if Edd left. 

"I was just going to get more cola, don't worry." He went to the kitchen and did as he told Matt. "Hey do any of you want a drink?"

"Some apple juice would be nice!" Matt called back. 

"Do you have water?" Tord asked.  
"I'm sorry Tord, I do not have votter."  
"Edd you little-- shut up you know what I mean."  
"No Tord, what do you mean?"  
"Edd!"  
"Who is this 'Edd'?" Edd teased, faking his best Norwegian accent. Though Tom found it kind of cute, Matt and Edd found it as the main source of poking fun. 

"Edd can I have some... wa-ter."  
"Yes, you can have some water."

Edd came back and handed Tord his water and Matt his juice. He relaxed on the couch, reaching for a remote to turn the TV on. 

Once he found it, he flipped the switch. "Oh look, it's our movie."

"RETURN OF THE INSANE ZOMBIE PIRATES FROM HELL FIVE?!" Tord yelled, nearly making Tom fall out of the chair. 

"Yiss. It's halfway over though."  
"I don't care, keep it on."

Patryk eventually woke up from his nap, and managed to wake Paul up too. Now everyone was watching the movie. 

"I feel like we--"  
"Sh!! This is the good part!" Tord interrupted for the thousandth time. 

Edd groaned. "But Tord, you say that about every par--"  
"Yeah yeah yeah, sh."

Everyone sat in silence until the movie was finally over. Once the credits scrolled through, Tord turned to Edd curiously. "Hey, what were you going to say earlier?"

"Oh yeah! I was saying we should do something today. We're just sitting and doing nothing. It's boring. I'm restless."

Tom grunted, clenching Tord's hoodie. "Nooo don't make me go on an adventure."

"Adventure it is then!" Edd announced, promptly ignoring Tom's boos. He looked up at the ceiling, thinking a moment. Then he snapped his fingers. "Hey, I know! Why don't we check out the pet store? Just like you used to a long time ago, Tord!"

Tord blushed a tiny bit, laughing nervously. "Heh... okay. That sounds nice." Tom still looked annoyed about leaving the house. 

Edd narrowed his eyes at him. "Tom, stop being so rude! Your boyfriend is going to his happy place! Be happy!"

He looked outside the window before walking out, and stopped. "It's raining again." He said, grabbing a jacket. "Shouldn't stop us though."

"Edd, wait... this storm's gonna get bigger you know." Paul said, looking at his phone. Patryk nodded, putting his away. "It's headed this way. We shouldn't leave now, unless you want to get soaked."

Tord shuddered at the thought of getting soaked by rain. He worked so hard to get his hair right every morning. And his hoodie always smelled gross afterward. 

"Rain is stupid." He and Tom said at the same time. They both stared at each other before bursting into laughter. 

Edd sighed, putting the jacket back on its rack. "So when does it pass?"

Paul checked his watch, and then the phone again. "It'll be about an hour and a half."

"Thunderstorms or rain?"

Tom stiffened at the mention of thunderstorms. Not more thunder this week. He couldn't take that. Nope. 

"Just rain, it looks like." Patryk answered with a smile. "Nothing to worry about besides a lot of water."

Tom relaxed after hearing that. Good. No thunder. He caught sight of Ringo darting past his foot. "Here kitty kitty!" He said, picking up the old cat. 

Tord stared at the two. God that was adorable. Though their whole friend group veered toward cats as their personal favourites, Tom was the biggest enthusiast besides Edd. Tord found it adorable when he'd wear various car shirts, or when he'd purposely make his hair look like cat ears in the mornings. 

"Want to pet him instead of stare?" Tom said, snapping him back out of his memories. Tord nodded, scratching Ringo behind the ears. 

"He reminds me of that old cat." He muttered more of to himself, but Tom caught it anyway. "Really?"

"Yeah."

Tom set him back down after a moment. "What do you want to do in the hour and a half we're waiting?"

Tord thought a minute. "Do you want to go to your room for a little bit? It's cool in there."

"Don't see why not."


	19. Memories

Tom led Tord back out and into his room, closing the door behind him. Tord caught sight of Susan (as Tom calls it) on the table. He reached out to touch it, when Tom smacked his hand. 

"Ow!"  
"Don't touch her."

Tord rolled his eyes and sat down. He looked at Tom, waiting him to follow suite, but instead he stayed stroking his bass. 

"Tom."  
"Shush. We're having a moment."

After about two minutes, Tom finally sat down in the seat next to Tord. He threw his head back, looking at a poster on his wall upside down. 

"So what do you want to do?" Tord asked. Without sitting up, Tom shrugged. "Let's just get to know each other more."

"I've lived with you for more than 10 years."  
"But I mean like, more."  
"Fine. Ask away."

Tom sat up, propping his chin on his hand. "Hm. Were you really born in Norway? Or is that just some scam to seem cool?"

Tord rolled his eyes again and sighed. "Yes. I was really born in Norway."

"Did you like it there?"  
"Yes, I did like it there."  
"Was it nice?"  
"Yes."  
"Wait does everyone up there speak like you?"  
"No, they speak with a French accent."

Tom stuck his tongue out. "No, seriously! No sarcasm."

"Yes, people sort of more or less sound like me."  
"That's weird."  
"You're weird."

Tom looked up at the ceiling, trying to think of something else. Maybe he could get out something about his past...

"How did you meet Paul and Patryk?"

Tord's eyes widened slightly, but he hid it with a cough. "Ahem. Uh... Paul... and Patryk...... how I met? Them?"

"Yeah, how'd you meet?"  
"Well... it's a very long story..... but I'll spare you."  
"I like long stories."  
"No Tom, it's VERY long."  
"I like very long stories."  
"Tom-- just-- okay."

Tom grinned as Tord gave in. He was getting softer already. 

"It was back when we were really young. Paul and Patryk are a good few years older than me. I was... 8 at the time? And Pat was 18 and Paul was 19. Yeah. That was it. Anyway, there was... an incident... at my house. It caused me to have to leave, and since they helped me so much in the time I had known them, they offerered to let me stay with them. I kind of just tagged along everything they did... I thought they were, well, really cool. When I turned ten, they offered me a job position at their work. That's how I got into the whole army business."

He blinked, and pat his hands on the table anxiously. "S-So yeah."

Tom blinked, breathing lightly in anticipation. "What incident?" He asked, leaning a little closer. "You can tell me."

"No... no it's not... it's not a problem with you... I just-- I just don't like talking about it."  
"Tord."

He turned his head to Tom, who clapped his face in his hands. 

"Please?"  
"I don't want to!"  
"I won't tell anyone! I could help you feel better!"  
"I don't want to."  
"Tord!!!"  
"Rrrghhhhhh--- there was a fire, okay?! That's it!!"

Tom let go of his face, and waited. Seeing Tord wasn't going to keep going, he decided to provoke it. "A... fire? At your house? What caused it?"

Tord made a stressful noise, shaking his head. "Stop, stop, stop it."

"Tell me!"  
"Stop........"

Tord sniffed, and Tom went completely silent, ducking a little. He fought with himself to push onward or let the subject fly off. Definitely push on. But-- a little nicer. 

"Please?"

Tord fell silent, and looked up at Tom with a dead look. "You want to know what caused it?"

Tom nodded, nervously smiling. He didn't like the tone of his voice. It was unsettling him. 

"It's not what. It's who."  
"Then who?"

Tord glanced away from Tom, grinning maliciously. "Me." 

Tom's face paled as he stumbled over his words. "B-But-- uh-- you well-- I thought it was...."

Tord shook his head, looking down at the ground. He was completely silent, his smile slowly turning to a frown. 

"Do you.... want to talk about it?"

Tord ignored him, and Tom began to get a little worried. "Tord?" He reached his hand out toward Tord, only to get it whacked. 

Tom held his hand, glaring at Tord. "I'm sorry! I was just trying to help."

"You can't. Help. Me."  
"You didn't even give me a chance!"  
"I know you can't, you don't need a chance. There's nothing to help Tom."

He got up and went to walk out the door, but stopped as Tom grabbed his wrist. "Stop it! If you want this relationship to work out we need to be a little honest at least!! I'll tell you some stuff about me if it makes you feel better. This is important."

Tord wrenched his wrist away, standing still. He eventually walked back to his seat and sat down. "Okay. Ask away."

~Finally~ Tom thought to himself, relived that Tord didn't walk out. He honestly didn't have a plan if the grabbing-his-arm-thing didn't work. 

"Why did you burn your house?"  
"I hated my family."  
"That's.... Okay. Whatever. Why do you hate your family?"

Tord looked off to the side, and Tom groaned. "tOOOORD. ANSWER."

"They did things."  
"What things?"  
"Things you don't need to know about."  
"Things I do need to know about, tell me!"

Tom was on the verge of snapping, but he took a deep breath and continued calmly. "Please. Tell me what they did."

"They did lots of things. I don't want to go into detail. Can you just stick with things?"

He obviously didn't want to talk. Though the curiosity was making him want to tear his hair out, he nodded reluctantly. "Okay, fine." He said stiffly. 

Tord gave a smug smile, knowing he won this. ~Not yet~ he thought to himself. Tom would hear his full story another day. 

"So... who were your 'family' as you say?"  
"My far and mor, of course... they were it."  
"Great! We're getting somewhere. So, can I ask you a little deeper question Tord?"  
"If you quit acting like my therapist."

Tom rolled his eyes. "Fine. I'll be your friend."

"Then yes."

Tom tried to think of a question that would cause a lot of explaining. This wasn't only interesting, but kind of fun getting Tord to do what he wanted. 

"What happened in that house the day it burned?"

Tord said nothing, but widened his eyes and stared at a corner. "It was just a normal day."

"With the house on fire? That's a blatant lie."

Tom scooted closer, staring at Tord with a fascinated look in his eyes. "What happened? Were you in it? Was your family in there? Where was Paul and Pat?"

Tord held up his robotic hand dramatically. "Jeez, give a man a second." He took a quick breath and sighed. "Alright. The day the house burned. Are you sitting comfortably?"

Tom adjusted himself and leaned against the arm rest. "Yes. Go on."

"I was around 8, again, like I said. It was probably the scariest day of my life. Do I regret it now? Hell no. Did I regret it previously, yes. Anyway, I had just gotten up to here with my parents. Always nagging at me about SOMETHING. You're doing this wrong, you're doing that wrong, that's not how you speak, fix your posture, I bet a dog could do better. And something had happened the night before that I will not put into detail."

Tom frowned, but still listened. 

"I was home in the kitchen, cooking."  
"At 8 years old?!"  
"Sh!! Yes! I was cooking at 8 years old-- but, not the point."

"So needless to say, I had access to a few things. I had been planning for a week to murder them, but just figuring out how. The best way I came up with, was fire. I cranked the heat up on the pan intentionally, and put one of our plastic containers.... in the... pan..."

He started to stare off again, and Tom snapped his fingers in his face. "Come on Tordy, finish it!"

"Don't call me that. But, the pan naturally caught fire. I didn't know what to do after that but run. I fanned the flames a moment before making a dart out of the kitchen. The only thing was the door got... got... the door got........... it was stuck. And.... the fire kind of......... uHH.."

Tom's excitement started to fade a little as Tord slowed down. "Come on, spill it."

"The fire blew up in the kitchen. I remember it being so hot... it was horrible. The door finally snapped open as I began hearing some frantic, choked out noises from the living room. I made a run for it, just as one---- Tom I'm done."

"What?! No!! Finish it!!"

Tord made another uncomfortable noise before shaking his head anxiously. "Urgh....... fine...... well.... just as I was about to get out... a beam fell."

Tom cringed. 

"It was on fire obviously. And it landed on me. I remember how panicked I was. I thought I would die in that house. A perfectly thought out plan gone perfectly wrong. Just... perfect."

"But what happened after that?"

"The police came. And the firefighters. They got me out of there... and I just remember seeing so much red....." He snapped back into reality. "And Paul and Patryk were biking outside my house. They took full responsibility of me, claiming to be my older brothers. From then on out, I've became.. well... me."

Tom blinked slowly, letting it all sink in. After a minute or two, he narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "You're... a murderer.."

Tord honestly looked confused. "You-- have you met me? Of course I'm a murderer! I've already told you about killing people in my time as leader. You saw me knock out that Jon kid. Not nescessarily proud of everything I do, but I do acknowledge it."

Tom nodded, understanding. "Better be careful not to get you mad." He muttered to himself.


	20. Tom Dies Pt. 2

After a moment, Tord cleared his throat. "So?"

"So what?"  
"Aren't you going to tell me about your 'dark past'?"

Tom glanced to the left, smiling suspiciously. "Huh? What? I said that? Oh right, haha...."

Tord narrowed his eyes in annoyance. "I swear if you don't tell me I will choke you to death."

"Do I have to?"  
"Yes!!"  
"Well I'm not telling you all of my backstory because you didn't tell me all of yours."  
"I told you most of it."  
"So I tell you most of mine."  
"Deal."

They shook hands, and Tord tried to think of a question. "Okay. How did you and Edd become friends? Or even Matt? How did you and Matt even survive in the same room together?"

Tom laughed, remembering the older days with just them. It was... nice. 

"It was kind of a package deal. Edd insisted I be friends with him. But how we met? Oh that's kind of foggy..."

He looked up at the ceiling, as if the answer were up there. After a minute, he started to remember a bit. 

"I think it was some convention... I don't remember what kind, but I remember it being really fun. We ran into each other there, and had loads to talk about. I remembered him from school-- being the quiet kid that talked to nobody. So him talking to me made me feel like I was getting close to someone for once. I had never really made friends... but it's not like I wasn't cool or anything. I was awesome. Coolest kid on the block."

Tord rolled his eyes, but listened. 

"He said he had a house and asked if I wanted to hang after the convention, so I moved my ultra busy schedule of hanging out with the cool guys to talk to him. I don't remember much after that. He told me I got myself real drunk and had to drive me home." He laughed a little. "He didn't know where I lived, so I had to give him drunk directions-- and that was the best part." 

Tord smiled and nodded. This was a lot nicer than his story. But maybe he was just avoiding certain topics to keep it upbeat. Tord shook the thought from his head.

"So the first time you talked to him was that convention?"  
"Yeah. He was a really quiet kid, I told you. People made fun of him and stuff... but after I got to know him and hung out with him, they stopped."  
"No wonder you two are such good friends. When did Matt come in?"

Tom looked around the room again, trying his best to remember. "I think it was one day at school. Yeah! He was running down the hall to get to his class and ran straight into Edd. I got kind of mad at first, you know, normal friend protectiveness, but he turned out to be pretty cool. Edd thought he was so great, and wanted me to ask him to come over."  
"Did you ask him?"  
"Yeah. And since then, all three of us have just been buddies. You came in about a year later."  
"I remember that. You three looked a lot different in real life."

They laughed for a moment, enjoying the story. Then he realized Tom was trying to distract him. He stopped laughing and narrowed his eyes. "Another question."

"Last one, I only asked you two."  
"I thought you asked me three?"  
"No it was two. Last question."  
"Rgh. Fine. What is your most embarrassing memory?"

Tom shook his head at Tord. "You're evil."

"I know, right? Now tell me. You already admitted you went to conventions and were some kid's bodyguard."  
"Conventions are cool! And I wasn't a bodyguard."

Tord rolled his eyes, trying not to laugh. "Tellllll meeeeeee~"

"Fine. It was back in my school years. I was... presenting a project. And I got freaked out and messed the whole thing up. Everyone thought it was hilarious, just cause I messed up a few words..." He narrowed his eyes. 

Tord blinked. "That's it? Do you have a fear of public speaking?"

"Not anymore! I just-- I don't like all the attention being focused on you."

Tord laughed, smiling slyly. "You are, haha."

"Shut up. Look, we've got like 30 minutes."

Tord looked down at his watch, widening his eyes. Had it been an hour already? He looked at Tom. "What do you want to do now?"

He thought for a second, but said nothing. He shrugged. "I've drawn a blank." He suddenly caught sight of Susan and had an idea. 

"Here, I'll play, you sing."  
"What?! No!"  
"Aw, why not?"

Tom already picked up the bass and began strumming a few chords. "It's not that hard. La la la see it's easy."

Tord crossed his arms and scowled. "I'm not singing." Tom grinned, putting an arm around his shoulder from his chair. "Come on!"

"I said no Tom. And I'm not giving in this time."

Tom rolled his eyes and returned to his bass. "Lame." He turned his meaningless strumming into a melody, and started to hum. 

Tord uncrossed his arms, watching with interest. "Wait, I want another question."

He stopped. "Yeah?"

"When did you start playing your guitar thing?"

Tom smiled, looking down at it. "Years ago. I had to be ten or so. My parents bought me lessons."

"Can I see some of your songs?" He asked, eyeing papers on the desk. Tom's face went red and he shoved them in a drawer. "You said one question."

"But why so keen on keeping it from me? Can I see just at least a little?" He tilted his head to the side, giving another sly smile.

Tom laughed louder than usual. "HAHAHHA NO!" He pushed his seat in front of the drawer and sat in it. Tord got up from his chair and walked to the side of Tom's chair. 

"Pretty please?"  
"No."

Tord narrowed his eyes, leaning into his face. "Show me!" He lunged at Tom, grabbing at his hoodie. 

"No! Jesus-- get off!!"  
"NEVER!!"

They fought in the chair a moment, until Tom pinned Tord down with his elbow. 

"HISSSSSSS!!!!!"  
"What the hell?!"

Tord struggled against Tom for at least two minutes before giving up and sighing. "I cannot believe you just did that."

"I'LL DO IT AGAIN!!" He yelled, rolling out while he was distracted and reaching for the drawer. 

Tom grabbed his arm and pulled him away, pinning him down again. Tord spat angrily, glaring at him. "Why won't you let me look at it?! And why are you so strong, you look like a stick!!!"

"It's a secret. To both of those." He let go, watching him with intensity. "Fine." Tord muttered, leaning up against Tom. 

He started messing with his hoodie string, humming and occasionally glancing up. Tom smiled softly, but then narrowed his eye and frowned. "Stop trying to guilt trip me."

"Me? Guilt trip? Nah." He looked down at his watch again. 10 minutes. He looked out the window and saw the rain starting to die down. 

"We should go back to Edd." He said, looking up. Tom sighed. "Yeah. Fine. Let's go."


	21. A Few More Minutes

Tom wrapped his arms around Tord, grinning. "Ooooooorrrrrrr?"

"Or what."  
"Or we could wait. You know. Like, 8 more minutes. Or 9. I don't know. They're right across the hall."

Tord looked up at him, stared at him a moment, and then rolled his eyes. "Yeah sure whatever. If they come asking I'll just pin the blame on you."  
"Deal."

They sat with each other a couple seconds before Tord sighed awkwardly. "Yeah. Um. So what did you want to do?"

Tom blinked, staring off. "Oh yeah. We could doooooo........ normal cute couple stuff."

"What's normal cute couple stuff in your mind? Because it's probably way different from mine." 

"You know! Like what couples do! Kiss and hug and that kind of thing. I don't know. I already suggested doing something else but you keep telling me no." Tom pouted. 

"I keep saying no because I don't feel like it, so shut up." Tord said, patting his arm. Tom stopped frowning and slowly smiled. "Eh I can't stay mad."

"Of course you can't. You're talking to me." Tord started messing with his hoodie strings again. Tom watched, wondering why he kept touching them. 

He suddenly clenched both of them real hard, and yanked them. Tom swung forward, gasping in surprise. Tord then used the chance to flip himself on top of him, and let go of the hoodie strings. 

"Don't wear dangly clothing-- it's a disadvantage." He said, leaning in and kissing him. He didn't know why, but it just felt great every time they kissed. It sparked some feeling he'd never felt before. 

Tom responded quickly, grabbing the back of his neck and pulling him down further. He was cool with Tord trying to mix things up. That was chill. 

Tord lifted up for a second, breathing hard. "Is this okay?" He asked with a worried look. Tom shrugged. "Do whatever, Tord."

He smiled, leaning in again. That definitely made him feel less awkward. Tom moved his arms away from Tord's neck, slowly moving them down his sides. He didn't know why he liked it, but Tom honestly didn't care what he liked or didn't like. Judge-free. 

Tord blushed slightly, moving away again. He stared at Tom a moment with a tranced look. Tom stared back, continuing moving down until he reached the band of his pants. 

Tord grabbed one of his arms, narrowing his eyes at Tom. "I said no."

"You're no fun!"  
"I'm just not up for it."  
"I bet you're just scared."

Tord's eyes widened in anger. He felt extremely challenged now. "I am not scared." He muttered angrily. 

"Are too."  
"Am NOT!!"

Tom groaned obnoxiously loud. "Why nOOOOOT"

"I already tOLD YOOOOOOOU"

"But that's not a REAL answer!"  
"Yes it is!!"

Tom narrowed his eyes, using the hand that wasn't being held down to lift up his hoodie. "Ah, whoopsssssss"

Tord let go, grabbing it and pulling it back down. "Stop it." 

Tom sighed for the billionth time today and slowly sat up. "Fine." He looked around, then looked back down at Tord. He had seemed a little shorter lately... but that's not right...

He realized he was kind of hunched over, and Tom rubbed his back. "Hey are you alright?"

"Yeah? Why are you asking?" Tord said, looking at his watch. Tom started to get a little worried. "Why are you... I don't know... you look like you're in pain or something. Did something open up?"

Tord shook his head reassuringly. "Nah. I'm fine."

"It's been a couple days since you've changed out the bandages... I'll help you with that when we get back today, okay?"

Tord shook his head again. "No, I'm fine. I don't need to change anything."  
"Yeah you do, why not?"  
"I don't hurt-- there's-- ah look what time it is, come on."

Tord got up quickly and strided to the door. Tom stared after him, narrowing his eyes defiantly. He was going to figure out what was up, whether Tord liked it or not.


	22. Yoo-hoo the Cat

Tom followed, watching Tord like a hawk. They walked out in time to see Edd in the doorway. "Ah, we were just about to come get y-- woah what happened to you two?"

Tom and Tord looked at each other. Their hair was messed up, Tom's hoodie strings were all stretched out, and they both looked pretty tired. 

Tord turned to Edd, about to answer, when he interrupted. "Oh were you guys... ooooh.... oh okay I see."

"Wait it's not--"  
"I see. No man it's cool."

Tord straightened up digilantly. "Whatever your thinking didn't happen Edd, don't tell anyone that."

Tom grinned, putting an arm around Tord's shoulder. "It totally happened."

"Tom!!"

Edd grinned to match Tom's. "You did the thing?"

"Totally did."  
"Totally DIDN'T. Shut up Tom."

He walked past Tom and Edd to where Matt, Paul, and Patryk were, ignoring them.

"We totally did." Tom whispered, slipping inside as well. Edd stayed outside, checking his watch. "Come on people, the place closes in an hour or so."

Everyone got ready and headed out the door. "I'm driving." Tord said, grabbing his keys and hopping in the drivers side. 

Tom ran and stole the shotgun seat, laughing at everyone who had to squeeze in the back. "HA! SHOTGUN!"

Tord rolled his eyes, starting up the car. "Yes. Where is that pet store again?"

Paul shrugged, looking at Patryk. He returned the look, holding up a phone and smiling slyly. "I took initiative and looked up directions."

Paul laughed, leaning over his shoulder to read it. "Yeah it's a few minutes away. Just go down this road we're on."

"Okay."

Tord started up the car, adjusting to the steering wheel after not driving for a while. He squinted to see with just one eye, trying not to break the law fifteen times in a row. Last thing he needed was to draw attention from the police. 

He shuddered at the thought, paying close attention. Tom looked down at the pavement with ease, and looked back up at Tord. "I could help if you want."

"Mhmm and how are you going to do that?"  
"You're a little too far to the right."  
"I am?"

Tord steered a little to the left and felt a little more centered. "Oh. Thanks."

"I'm full of good advice."  
"Ehhh let's not push it."

They continued their drive, Tom helping out Tord and the four in the back having an intense conversation about their favourite types of animals. 

"I like ladybugs."  
"But that's a bug, not an animal! An animal, Matt. Like I love cats. Cats are my favourite."  
"Hm. I guess I like cats too. Ringo is cute."

Paul blinked looking at everyone. "So I'm the only dog person here?"

"Yeah. Basically." Edd said, shrugging. "Doesn't really change anything. You just do you and I'll do me."  
"Dealio."

The car stopped abruptly, causing everyone to fly forward in their seats. Tord's face slammed against the wheel, accidentally honking the horn. 

He swung up quickly, cutting the car off and pulling the keys out. "Everyone out, we're here."

Patryk got out, whispering to Paul. "I think he needs his license renewed."

They made their way into the store, where Tord gasped like a little kid. He ran to all the different exhibits, saying hey to all of them. 

"Is Blue here?" He asked out loud, looking for a particular bird. He frowned when he couldn't find it. "Oh. Probably got sold."

He moved to another one, seeing a snake. "Sods?" After taking a closer look he realized it was a different snake. He sighed, moving on again. 

Tom ran up behind him, patting his back. "Aw it's okay Tordie. Maybe your cat is here!"

Tord's face lit up when he looked at the ground. There was an old looking black and white cat licking its paw. It looked up at Tord and meows, rubbing against his leg. 

"IT'S YOO-HOO!!" Tord nearly screamed, bending down and giving the cat a huge hug. "Yoo-hoo I missed you!!!" He held it close to his face, literal tears forming in his eye. 

Tom stared off and suddenly had an idea. He snuck to the counter and rang he bell quietly. A lady in a store outfit ran up, smiling. "Hello sir, and what can I do for you today?"

He looked behind him, then back at the lady. "How much for that cat?"

She squinted, recognizing the cat. "Oh, Yoo-hoo is going to another home today."

"How much did the other person pay for him?"

The lady looked startled. "U-Um... the normal price, sir. 15 pounds for the cat and an additional 31 pounds for the supply pack that comes with him."

Tom reached into his wallet and slammed money on the counter. "60 pounds."

She blinked, not sure what to do. "The person who bought him is probably already coming to pick him up. I can't bid him off... I'm sorry."

He placed another 20 pounds on the counter. "Just for you."

The lady sighed, giving in. "Please don't tell my boss." She muttered, taking the money and contacting the other buyer. 

Tord had been staring a majority of the time, and stared as Tom walked back with a smug look on his face. 

"The cat's yours, Tord-- woah."

Tord was crying full tears of joy, and flung himself at Tom, hugging him tightly. "Thank you... thank you..."

Tom pat his head, not sure what to do. "You're welcome? Holy carp on a carpet ride I did not realize you were THAT into animals."

Tord let go, scrubbing at his face to get rid of the tears. He cleared his throat. "Yeah. I like this cat." He picked Yoo-hoo up again and picked out a collar. 

Paul narrowed his eyes as Tom bought the collar for him, and Patryk placed a hand on his shoulder. "He's just growing up."

"I think he's trying to outdo us."

Patryk laughed nervously, patting his shoulder now. "Ah Paul, quit being so skeptical. It's okay."

After Tom and Tord walked back, they all got together and left the store. Matt noticed a flea market sign five minutes away, and was bent on convincing everyone to go. 

"But Tom spent 80 today, why can't I spend 80 on stuff I need?!"

Edd rolled his eyes and shoved him in the car with everyone else. Edd was bestowed the duty of holding onto Yoo-hoo while Tord drove. 

"You and Ring are gonna make good friends." He pet the cat, smiling at its purring. "Daw."


	23. King of Smooth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep it's been a while. I wrote a chapter, but realized it was really long so I'm splitting it. :P

Tom watched as Edd talked to the cat. "It can't talk back, you know that right?"

Matt shot an angry look at Tom. "Don't tell him that! Dream crusher!!"

Tom resisted a facepalm, sighing in place of it. "Yes Matt. I'm the Dream Crusher. I'll crush yours too." He bared his teeth jokingly, making Matt flinch. 

"Ah stop it you two. Tom, help Tord. I'm pretty sure we just ran over a snake." Edd said, petting Yoo-hoo and making faces at him. Matt shot a jealous look at the cat, and then out the window. 

"Shut it, Edd, I know what I'm doing obvioUSLYAUGH!!!" Tord yelled, swerving to avoid a squirrel. Tom gripped Tord's arm in panic, breathing hard. "Tord. Please. Let me trade spots with you."

"I know what I'm doing!"  
"We are NOWHERE NEAR THE APARTMENT."

Tord looked around in confusion. "Yes we are."

"No, we are NOT."

He squinted to read a sign on a building, realizing Tom was right. "Oh. Uh...... okay." He stopped the car, and swapped places with Tom. He tripped over the curb, running face-first into the car window. 

He quickly brushed himself off, shutting the door and looking away in embarrassment. 

"Hot."  
"Shut up."

Tom went at a much smoother speed, making sure to prove his point. The ride went a little too smooth though, and caused nearly everyone to fall asleep. 

Tord was struggling to keep his eyes open. He stared at the window behind his slouched shoulders, slowly gripping a hand at his side. 

Tom glanced over a minute, slowing down the slightest bit. "Do you feel carsick?"

"No I'm just fine, why do you ask?"  
"Well you're just kind of sick looking! Like I said before. Is your side okay?"  
"It's fine Tom!" Tord snapped, widening his eyes immediately afterward. "Sorry. You're just trying to help."

He looked out the window again, trying not to pay attention to anything but the moving background behind it. 

Behind them, not much was happening. Matt was still barely awake, and spent the entire time shooting an angry look at Yoo-hoo. Edd hasn't even directly spoken to him the WHOLE RIDE BACK. How could he be ignored like this?!

The cat meowed cutely, licking its paw. Matt imitated a cat hiss, scooting away from it. Patryk groaned in annoyance as he and Paul got squished together. "Matt, please."

Matt looked at Patryk in despair, then ever so slowly inched his way back near Edd and the cat. "Thank you."

Paul sighed as Patryk moved away. The car was really cold because of the A/C, and he didn't have anything but his own jacket. Patryk noticed, and turned to him. 

"Are you cold?"  
"And tired."

Patryk rolled his eyes, and leaned on Paul. "There, I'm your blanket."

"Thank you~"  
"You're.... welcome...."

They both fell asleep as fast as they woke up, until the car stopped at the apartment. Edd rose up, rubbing his eyes sleepily. "Here already? That was only a couple minutes." He looked at Matt, grinning tiredly. "Hiya."

He stretched, then opened the door to follow Tom and Tord. Matt followed after, jumping up and down with the excitement of being acknowledged, and being tagged along by Paul and Patryk. 

When Edd got up to the door, he noticed Tom's worried look. "What happened? I was asleep."

Tom glanced at Edd, smiling. "Eh, nothing. Just trying to catch up with speedy Tord." He said in a rush, running after him. 

Edd walked to his room, and invited everyone in again. Paul and Patryk politely declined, explaining that they were going to have a movie night together. 

"Awww that's so cute!" Matt said excitedly. "You know, we should do that Edd! Just you and me! Nobody else. At all. Whatsoever." He narrowed his eyes at Yoo-hoo on the floor and looked back at Edd with a big smile. 

"Oh okay! Sounds great." He walked inside, followed closely by Matt and the door closing. 

Just across the hall, Tom had finally found where Tord had gone. He was staying silent, listening closely from behind his own room's door. 

He creaked the door open silently, looking in to see Tord messing with the nearly-red bandages wrapped on his side. He pulled one back carefully, and winced before setting it back down. 

He reached up for his face, to check on the bandages when Yoo-hoo bounded in the small space Tom had opened up. 

Tord turned around frantically to see his cat and Tom in the doorway. "Uh. Heeeeyyyyyyy...?" Tom said awkwardly, trying to seem unsuspicious. 

"Tom! Hello! I was... uhhh--" He took his hoodie off the rest of the way, holding it in pretend disgust. "Washing my hoodie. It's gross after wearing it a while." 

Tom blushed slightly at Tord without his hoodie on. Being in the army must have really built up some muscle or something. He stared off until he heard Tord's nervous, accented laugh.

"Ahahahauhhhh what are you staring at?"  
"I-- I dunno I just kind of-- wow I don't know. Uh.... wow."

Tord raised an eyebrow, making Tom whistle in embarrassment and swiftly run-walk to the bed. "Yeah I'll just mind my own business and... uh... read this book." He picked up a Christian magazine, and pretended to read it as Tord put his hoodie in his laundry basket.

"You really need to do your clothes soon, this is a mess."  
"You're a mess."  
"Haha, real mature Tom."  
"A hot mess."

Tord nodded with a smile. "Yes, yes I know." He walked back to the bed, carefully sitting down on it. He rolled over on his left side, looking at Tom read. 

"It's upside down."

Tom slammed the magazine down in double embarrassment, and glanced over to see Tord right next to him. He cursed himself for getting so worked up about just seeing him there, and how weird it probably looked to Tord. 

But actually, Tord thought it was kind of cute. He lied his head on Tom's chest, curling up close to him. Tom was sort of right. He didn't really feel too great. But he didn't want anyone to worry about it. Especially his friends....

Tom glanced over at him with a crooked smile, which made Tord feel a billion times better instantly. "What was that?"

"What was what?"  
"Can you even call that a smile? It's like a diagonal line."

Tord twisted his head around dramatically, making it obvious that his smile was different. Tom rolled his eyes and lightly shoved Tord's face from being sideways. 

"I just smile like that sometimes."  
"Oh well it's cute, you should do it more often~"

Tord lied his head back down again, twisting Tom's hoodie strings around in his hand. Tom sighed in frustration, holding a hand to his head. 

"Something wrong?"  
"Yes-- sort of-- no not really-- Tord I'm going to honestly say this, but you have been making it REALLY HARD to restrain myself."

Tord laughed, pushing up against him. "I know, that's why I do it. It's fun to see your reaction."

Tom glared at him, and then back up at the ceiling. "I'm not kidding. Stop that."

"Oh now YOU'RE telling me to stop. What if I don't want to?"  
"Then you're going to pay the price."  
"And what's that?"


	24. Curiosity Killed the Tord

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Almost gets a lil NSFW there, so if ya don't like it doNt reaD It aUgh

Tom bit his lip nervously, ignoring his question. Tord used his stretched out position to snake his face into the space between Tom's head and shoulders. 

"What's that~?" He half-whispered, resting his face on his neck. 

Tom's face turned red, and he shook his head, not breaking eye contact with the ceiling. Tord frowned. He was ignoring him now. Time to kick it up a notch. 

Tord thought a few seconds, then suddenly dove down and bit Tom's neck. Tom flinched at first, but instantly recovered. "That'S IT."

He flipped himself up over Tord, holding his arms above his head with one hand. Tord was too caught up in the moment to get angry, and hadn't even noticed as Tom grabbed his shirt and pulled it off of him. 

Tord stuck his tongue out and narrowed his eyes. What was he doing?! Tom gripped his arms harder, making sure we wasn't going anywhere. He slid his other hand to his pants, as he had tried to do earlier, and suddenly hears a gasp of surprise. 

"Wait-- Tom-- please??"  
"Please what?!"  
"I'm... not up.. for it."

Tom shot an evil grin, and pulled them off anyway. Tord went to punch or kick Tom for doing that, but remembered his hands were being held down and he was practically being sat on by Tom. ~STUPID STUPID STUPID!!!!~ he thought to himself. How did he let this happen?!

Tom took off his own hoodie and tossed it aside. He leaned in close to Tord, smiling slyly. "I said you'd pay a price."

Tord was about to angrily object when he was cut off by a kiss. This one was a little different. He still got enjoyment from it, but he was almost scared. But it was a fun kind of scared. Emotions weren't making sense.

Tord felt Tom's hand go a little loose during the kiss, and used it to pull his hands out from under his. Instead of shoving Tom off like he had promised himself he'd do, he naturally stroked at his sides, pulling at his shirt. 

Tom broke away, looking down at Tord. For once. Tord looked up at him, seeming super tired already. Tom let him take his shirt off, and when he was done he leaned in for another kiss. 

Tord gripped the back of his head, running his fingers through his hair and making him lean down lower. He used his other hand to run down Tom's chest, which gave him a slight chill. It was super cold because of it being metal, and it nearly caught him completely off guard. 

"You okay?" Tord said, breaking off quickly. Tom nodded his head, grinning. "Perfectly fine. Are you?"

"Yeah. I am."

Tord went straight back to the kiss, tracing his hand from his chest to his waist, and pulling him as close as possible. He slipped his tongue in there, which caught Tom even more off guard. What just happened??

He went to push himself up a little, putting some pressure on Tord's chest on accident. He heard him make a pained noise, and break away from the kiss. "Holy crap, sorry!"

"Nothing... to apologize about..." he panted out, holding out a hand as if to say it was fine. "You can keep going if you want."

Tom stared at him a moment. He didn't think he'd be able to make it through this without getting hurt somehow. The last thing he'd want is for Tord to get hurt. 

~Ha. Things have really changed.~

He moved away slightly, but was still laying on Tord. "We should stop, actually. We can pick this up some other time."

"Why?!"  
"I'm not up for it."

Tord stuck his tongue out playfully, flinching when Tom grabbed it with his free hand. "That's disrespectful." He said, and then let go. He barely raised an eyebrow at Tord's surprised look. 

"Can we at least kiss again?"  
"You and those kisses. Whatever happened to hating me?"  
"Shut up and come kiss me."  
"Sir yes sir."

Tom leaned over, kissing him a lot lighter than before. Tord curled his arms around his neck again, almost making it impossible to kiss him because of his constant smiling. 

They broke away, and Tord kept the smile on his face while he softly kept Tom in place. "It's been a while since I've seen you for real smile." Tom commented, running a hand down the smooth part of his face. 

"Get used to it, because I only do it when I'm with you."  
"That was so cringy it hurt."

They laughed together for a moment, before Tord finally let go of him. Tom moved himself off of Tord as well, and lied on the bed right next to him. He held out his arms, offering Tord a place to curl up. 

"But I'm taller than you."  
"We're practically the same size."  
"It's your stupid spiky hair."

Tord took up his offer, poking his hair with his robot hand. "It feels spiky too. What do you even use to keep it like this??"

"Wait, how can you feel my hair with that thing?"  
"This thing?"  
"Your arm!"  
"Oh that thing."

Tord shrugged nonchalantly, continueing to mess with his hair. Tom stared at him, and after a moment reached up and touched his arm. Still really cold. 

"Did you feel that?"  
"Yes."  
"But how???"

Tord shrugged again, tucking in his arms and curling into Tom's chest. He closed his eyes. "Don't ask me how I made it, I just made it."

Tom rolled his eyes, patting Tord's back softly. "Good night, Tordie."

"God natt, min favoritt idiot~"  
"I understood that, lil jerk."  
"Jeg elsker deg?"  
"I love you too."


	25. Morning

Light filtered through the window, letting morning announce itself. Tord groaned, turning on his bad side to look at the clock. 4:30 AM. Oh well. It's either wake up early yourself or wake up early with Edd in your face. 

He turned back and sniffed, nearly sneezing when something fuzzy came near his face. He drowsily opened his eyes to see Yoo-hoo nearly sleeping on his face. "G'mornung kitty." Tord smiled, petting Yoo-hoo. He listened to him purr for a moment, and watched as the cat stretched his legs and hopped off the bed. 

Tord thought about getting up himself, when he remembered Tom. He became 50% more alert, looking around for him. He wasn't in the room. Why would he leave like that?!

Tord grabbed his shirt on the bed and went to put it on when he saw he had something on him already. He lifted it up, and smiled at Tom's hoodie. He must have put it on him last night at some point. ~was I cold?~

This just reminded him once again about Tom. "Tom?" He called out, sitting up. He heard no reply. "Tom???!!" 

Tord jumped off the bed, collapsing on the floor beside it. "OW!!" He yelled out, pushing himself up from the ground. He winced at the pressure, and then gasped in surprise as something brushed against his shoulder. 

He looked up to see an outstretched hand beside him. "Need some help?"

Tord sighed in relief and grabbed Tom's hand, letting him help him up. 

"Good morning sleepyhead. I made breakfast!" Tom said, pointing to the kitchen. "It's not much, but I'm fine with it. Come on." He grabbed Tord's hand and led him in the kitchen before he could respond. 

Tom pulled out a chair, motioning for Tord to sit in it. "After you, hotshot." When he sat down, Tom pushed the chair in and excitedly sat across from him. He grinned across the table as Tord slowly smiled in response. 

"So how'd you sleep? Oh yeah, you were shivering and stuff and said your hoodie was dirty so I let you borrow mine." Tom said, noticing Tord's look. 

"I slept fine. How about you?"  
"It was hard to fall asleep with your distracting......"  
"Distracting what?"  
"Everything. You're just distracting."

Tord rolled his eyes with a smile, picking up his fork. He stared at his food a minute. For a few minutes actually. It has been years since he's had REAL food like this. Eating something more than some simple meals for lunch and dinner wasnt what he was used to. There wasn't even a breakfast. 

"Something wrong?"  
"No this is good!" He said, stabbing his toast and eating it off the fork. He glared at Tom when he shot a smirk at him. 

"What are you doing there, Chief?"  
"Shut up and let me eat my toast."

Tord finished his toast, but didn't eat anything else. He spun his fork around, bored. 

"Come on, eat."  
"Eeeeehhhhhhhhhh"  
"Tooooooord."  
"Ehhh?????"  
"Tord."  
"Ugh."

Tord dramatically stabbed a piece of egg and shoved it in his mouth. "There."

Tom rolled his eyes again, and then lit up as he remembered something. "Hey Tord are you done?"

"This is all I'm going to eat. It was good, thanks."  
"I just remembered we need to check on your bandages. I... uh... accidentally saw your side ones yesterday and they didn't look good. Those need to be replaced every once and a while."

Tord hesitantly set the fork down. He got up from the chair and followed Tom without any complaints for once. 

"Okay, sit on the edge of the bed and get comfortable. Then I'll get those old ones off."

He ran off to the bathroom for a few minutes, leaving Tord swinging his feet in anticipation. Tom returned, holding the bandages now. "Okay, I got them."

He climbed up on the bed and sat down, holding the bandages and the scissors. "Lift up your arms." He said, and slipped the hoodie off as Tord did what he was asked. 

He folded it up neatly and set it to the side. Then he grabbed the scissors and snipped a bit of the gauze. He slowly unwrapped it, cringing as he saw some new blood drip from it. He should have worn gloves or something. "Gross." Tom muttered, setting bits aside. 

He finally got near the end, and quickly unraveled the rest of the bandages. Behind them, his side looked much worse than to begin with. It was red, bleeding a lot more than it should, had extra gashes that came from somewhere else, and... what was that?

Tom slowly touched a piece of metal that had somehow dug itself into his skin. Once he made contact, Tord yelled out in pain. "AhHH!!"  
"WHAT IS THIS?!!"  
"Oh that??"  
"YES 'THAT'!!"

Tord stared at it a moment, as if trying to remember. "I don't know."

"Do you want me to.... take it o-"  
"NO!!"  
"Okay point taken."

Tom stared at him a few moments, trying to figure out what he needs to do. He wasn't any doctor or anything. Should he call a doctor? He asked questions in his head and debated with himself on what should actually happen. 

"You can just bandage it back up if you want, it will probably fix itself." Tord suggested, wanting to be done with the whole thing. Tom shook his head. "Actually, I think it should air out a little bit. We can leave these off a while."

Tord stared at him in surprise. "You want me to what?! But those are like bandaids, they fix the problem!!"

"Sometimes, but I remember when I was younger--"  
"Oh I bet you do"  
"Shut up-- I would get a papercut or something and put a bandaid on it. If I left it on for too long, it got worse. And my Mom always said that after a few days you just have to let it air out."

Tord raised his eyebrows and gasped in fake surprise. "Oh wow, Tom! This is a really bad papercut!" He said sarcastically, pointing to his side. "Must have been a really big book! Do you think it had cardstock pages? Ouch. Such a pain."

"Stop giving me hassle. I think it should air out."  
"Then what do I wear?!"  
"You can just go without your shirt."

Tord narrowed his eyes at Tom's snickering. "No. I'll suffer through this pain. Just get me a loose shirt or something."

"Aw are you self conscious? You look great without your shirt!" Tom said, innocently grinning. 

"Tom I am not in the mood for compliments." Tord growled, picking up a random shirt and throwing it on. He winced as it touched his cut but it wasn't as bad as before. 

"What time is it?" He asked, looking down at his watch anyway. Tom took a breath to answer, but Tord answered himself. "Ah, 5:21. Why hasn't Edd come to get us??"

"Actually.... I don't know... let's go drop by." Tom said, throwing his hoodie on. "You probably want to get some pants before leaving too."

"Put on-- AH! SHUT UP!! THIS DIDN'T HAPPEN!!" Tord yelled, running back to the bedroom. He came back a couple seconds later, standing up tall and trying his best to look dignified. 

"Okay, let's go."  
"Okay."


	26. Microwaved Fireworks

They walked out into the hall, where they were barreled into by Edd. Edd ran into Tom, knocking Tord over and making everyone imbalanced and fall down. 

"Edd!?"  
"Oh, good morning guys!" 

He stood up and brushed himself off as if nothing happened. "Don't mind me, I was just being taught how to shoot a gun, and--"

There was a loud bang and more than a few swear words that came from Edd's room. 

"Ummm, excuse me a sec."

He ran back to his room with the same speed, leaving Tom and Tord staring at each other in complete confusion. Tom stood up after a second, holding out his hand to Tord. Tord didn't see and got up himself. 

"Wow. Rude."  
"What?"  
"Nothing, let's go see if anyone died."

They both ran to Edd's room, skidding to a stop at the entrance. Matt turned around, waving excitedly. "Hey guys!"

"Matt, what is going on?" Tord asked, looking around the messy room. Paul walked up, looking extremely stressed. "Nothing to worry about, Tord, we have this all under control."

Edd ran from the kitchen and slammed facefirst into the wall. He stayed on the ground a minute as Patryk came from the kitchen as well. He leaned over Edd cautiously. "Are you dead?"

There was another loud noise. 

"Okay seriously, what the heck is going on??" Tom asked louder than Tord had. Matt was about to explain, but couldn't make coherent words because he was laughing so hard. "We-- I-- there's--- oh boy--"

"AAARGRGHHHHH!!" Tord yelled out, running to the kitchen. He grabbed an umbrella on his way and threateningly pointed it out in front of him. "Show yourself!!" He yelled out dramatically. 

He yelped as there was another loud noise, and he noticed it came from the microwave. "What the..." He reached out to open it, extremely curious. 

Tom ran after him, grabbing his hood and pulling him away. "They put fireworks iN THERE."

"WHAT."

Tord walked out of the kitchen and leaned over Edd. "Hey buddy. Wake up." He poked his face, which made Edd open his eyes a little bit. 

"Oh no.... are you the antichrist? I thought I was going to heaven "

Tord narrowed his eyes, hissing like a snake. "Yesss. And I have come to ask you something Edd."

"What is it?"  
"Are you mentally okay?"

Edd shoved his face, standing up and laughing. "Yes. I swear it isn't as stupid as it sounds."

"Is it? Is it really?"  
"It isn't!"  
"I'd love to hear how this played out."

"Pretty simple actually." Edd started, holding in a laugh as the microwave popped again. "This morning, Matt and I were SUPER BORED. And you two were making love or whatever so we went next door to see what these two dudes were up to. You have really cool friends by the way! And Paul here said that he had fireworks and Matt suggested we put them in the oven or microwave or something."

"That sounds... actually better than some of the things you guys have done." Tom said slowly. Patryk looked around, shaking his head. "I was not part of this."

"I'll handle it." Tord said, rolling his eyes and walking into the kitchen. Tom grabbed his hood again, which made him whip around in annoyance. "What?!"

"I'll do it!" He suggested, frowning when Tord shook his head. "No I like this stuff."

"No let me do it!"  
"ToM I sWeAR"  
"I'm doing it."  
"nO!!"  
"YES!!" 

Tom looked down at his arm and noticed a power off switch. 

"What are you looking at--" 

He reached around and swiped his hand across the small screen, turning it off and making it literal dead weight. Tord lost balance and fell over on the floor. 

"HA!!"  
"I'M GOING TO MURDER YOU!!"

Tom used his chance to run into the kitchen, open the microwave, and toss the half-melted fireworks out the window, slamming the door shut again. He walked out of the kitchen, grinning. "Done!"

Matt looked up from messing with Tord's dead arm, gasping. "Yay! He fixed it!" On the other side of the room, Edd sat up. "Tom, you saved us. You are a good guy."

"Of course I'm a good guy, do I look like a bad guy?"  
"Sort of, yeah."

Edd got up and dusted himself off, casually walking to the kitchen as if nothing happened. He looked at the mess and then back in the living room. 

"Did I miss something? Who killed Tord?"

Tord pointed at Tom lazily. "He flipped the switch. I'm dead." He flopped his normal hand back on the ground. Matt continued to look at his arm. He liked looking at it cause it was so shINY. 

Tom rolled his eyes, crossing his arms. "Oh now you're just being dramatic. I would never kill you. Even if I wanted to, which I do most of the time, I wouldn't do it because you have those two assassins." He said, pointing at Paul and Patryk.

Tord looked up at Matt, still not wanting to move. "Hey Matthew can you do me a solid?"

"That's not my name!"  
"Press that button that you're almost touching right there."

Matt did as he was asked and gasped as the hand lit up and made a noise. Tord moved his fingers around to get used to it again, then held it out to Matt. "Help me up, I'm lazy."

Tom groaned and walked over, forcefully pulling Tord up. "Quit bugging him." He brushed off Tord's shirt, being careful around his side. "You got my shirt dirty!"

"My shirt now."  
"You are not--"  
"Nope it's mine. You killed me like two seconds ago."

Tord turned away from Tom, smirking. "Karma."

Tom rolled his eyes and looked around the room. What a mess. "Okay so now that things are semi normal, what are we going to do?"

Edd thought a moment, sitting back in his chair. "Hmmm. We SHOULD clean up this mess. But what I REALLY want to do is watch TV." He picked up the remote and turned it on. 

"Of course."


	27. Walk

Tord started to walk to the door, but stopped when Tom called after him. "Where are you going?"

"For a walk."  
"Right now?"  
"Yes."

He walked out, leaving Tom to turn around and look at Patryk. "He does that, don't worry. He knows how to fight off people."

Tom nodded, but after a moment of nervously sitting there stood up anyway, jogging out to catch up with Tord. "Hey, I'll walk with you."

Tord turned around and smiled. "I was hoping you'd say that."

"Wait, really?"  
"It's kind of boring on my own. I need someone to annoy me."

Tord laughed, flicking Tom's hair. He lead the way outside, then waited for Tom to catch up. Tom closed the door behind him, staring off. "Uh... where do you walk to?"

"Just come on."

Tord reached his hand out, grinning as Tom confusedly took it. "What made you so cheery in the last... I dunno... 3 seconds?"

Tord rolled his eyes, swinging his arm back and forth. "Can I not just be happy?" He looked at a couple people who walked by with slightly confused glances, and he returned the look with narrowed eyes. 

"I don't know... I kind of like it when you're mad."  
"Do you now?"  
"Yes I do."

Tord laughed. "I'll be sure to be mad more often then." He turned left, running into Tom. "Get with it Tom, follow the sidewalk."

"The sidewalk goes everywhere, how am I supposed to know where to go?"  
"You should just be able to know what I'm thinking."  
"Okay. Sure. Of course."

They continued walking, Tom slowing down a little bit. This was a fast walking pace. He looked at all the stores, one by one, and started to get a little exhausted. 

"Keep up!"  
"Tord... why are we going so fast?"  
"Does it matter?"

Tord rolled his eyes, stopping and waiting for Tom to catch his breath. "Thank... you... just a second."

"Hmmm done."  
"What?"  
"Come on!"

Tord grabbed his hand, leading the way. He slowed down more to match Tom's speed, but made no stops. He went past store after store until he came across a restraunt. 

"Here."

Tom looked up, tilting his head in confusion. "A cafe?"

"Yes!"  
"This is where you go?"  
"Yes."  
"But why here?"

Tom looked around, still not making any sense out of what was happening. Wasn't this just a walk? Tord waited a couple minutes, staring down at Tom. Then he began to laugh quietly. 

"What."  
"HahaHA YOU THOUGHT I WAS SERIOUS."  
"What?"  
"You're so gullible, Thomas~"  
"....... What???"  
"I don't come here. I honestly have no clue where to go. Where do you want to go?"

Tom narrowed his eyes, finally catching his breath. "Back home in my room, where we can hang out again instead of being out in this stupid heat."

"It's not that bad." Tord said, grinning. "Plus, we're still hanging out. Fair?" He held out his hand again, waiting for Tom to take it. When he finally did, he started a much slower pace past the shop. 

"Whatever." Tom muttered, walking with him. "You know, you're a real softie when it comes to being physical." 

"What do you mean?"  
"It's like you can't live without me being around you, especially when I'm touching you, which is a good thing."

Tord nodded, pulling him a little closer so that he could wrap his arm around his side. "When I touch something I know it's real."

"Why would I not be?"  
"Dreams aren't real."  
"Am I in your dreams?"  
"I've said too much. Look at that bird!"

Tom turned his head in the direction Tord pointed, seeing nothing. Another cop out. He looked back at Tord. "Well I like you being here too."

"When did you start liking me?"

"Holy flipping Ferris wheels you like changing topics. Uhh.... honestly... I realized I liked you after I kind of shot you out of your stupid robot."

Tord tch-ed angrily, glancing to the side. "It wasn't stupid." 

"I just thought back, about all the times we had fought before. I thought I hated your guts. But maybe I was just a little envious." Tom stopped talking, as if he figured he was saying too much. 

Too late, Tord was interested. "Envious? Of what?" He looked up at Tom, slightly slouching over again. Tom's face tinted red as he got a little embarrassed. 

"It's just... whenever you came along, you kind of took my place for a while. I was the cool guy with all the cool tricks. Edd and Matt always said how I was the coolest. But then after we met you, Edd was going on and on about what you did with him and how much more fun he is. And even Matt would make comments CONSTANTLY about how you were just the nicest, coolest dude with all the cool movies and all the cool games and just... you were cool."

"Matt thinks I'm cool?"  
"You are so dense."

Tord shoved Tom, rolling his eyes. Tom punched his arm in response, biting back a cry as he realized that that was his metal arm. "Gaahhhhhh...... ow."

He let go of Tord's hand, using it to hold the newly bruised one. Tord was about to say something along the lines of "It's not that bad" when he suddenly got the air knocked out of him. 

He wheezed in a breath, regaining balance and looking at what hit him. A little girl had crashed her bike into him, and was busy trying to get back on it and zoom away. 

Naturally, Tord's first reaction was to get angry. He sat up. "Excuse me?! Are you going to say sorry?!" He hissed angrily, immediately feeling a little guilty when she turned around with a confused look. 

"Sorry Mister, I'm trying to find my snake. He slithered off over here."  
".... snake..?"

A lithe, yellowish-orange figure darted over Tord's foot, which triggered an extremely girly scream. He literally jumped off the ground and clung to Tom like a wet cat. 

"Tord-- what?! I can't hold you like that!!" Tom protested, trying to keep his balance. Tord didn't respond, but narrowed his eyes as he saw the tail slither out of sight. 

The girl waved. "Sorry again! I have to go get him." She got back on her bike and wheeled off quickly. 

Tom looked up at Tord, throwing him off of him by leaning backwards. Tord got up and dusted himself as if nothing happened. He caught Tom's look, and raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Are you scared of snakes?"

"You're scared of a sound." Tord teased, shoving Tom again. "Don't judge."


	28. End of the Walk

After they had messed around a good bit, Tom started to get bored. He looked around for any fun looking place to go to, but nothing really appealed to him. He just wanted to go home and fall asleep on Tord for the rest of the afternoon. In the air conditioned apartment. While hearing Edd and Matt be stupid and probably get Paul and Pat to tell another cool war story. 

He stopped thinking when's Tord snapped his hand in his face. "Earth to Tom." Tom pouted, putting on his whiny voice. "I wanna go hooooome."

Tord stopped walking, letting out a sigh. "Alright. We can go home. But first, can I show you this nice little shady spot?" He pointed a little ways off, some part of a mostly-isolated park. 

Tom knew Tord was enjoying this, so he sucked it up. "Yeah, sure. Show away." He let Tord grab his shirt sleeve and lead him there within seconds. He stopped once they were under the shade, grinning happily. "It's nice isn't it?"

"Oh yeah. It is." Tom said, not entirely lying. It was pretty. There was a little lake in the distance. But this tree was really big and shady. Perfect place to picnic at some point, actually.

Tord turned to face Tom, leaning down the slightest bit and pointing a finger at his face. "This is the part where you kiss me." He waited for Tom to respond with a grin. 

Tom sighed quietly, trying not to laugh at his playfulness. He leaned in and lovingly kissed Tord. After a second, he had a smart idea and brought his hands down to Tord's sides, slipping his hands under his hoodie. 

Tord broke from the kiss, still smiling, and nuzzled into Tom's chest. Oh great, now he was going to feel guilty about doing this. Tom acted as if he were just rubbing his sides, but the moment his hand ran over that scrap of metal, he squeezed it and yanked it out quickly. 

Tord gasped, sitting up from Tom's chest and trying to get his breathing back in control from the scare. Tom looked at the metal in his hand. It was either painted red or it was coated in blood. Maybe both. 

He tossed it to the side, lifting up Tord's jacket and looking at the spot it came from. It was trickling a tiny bit of blood. It was basically just a metal splinter-- it probably didn't hurt too bad. 

Tom put it down and held out his arms once more to Tord, who now shot a fiery glare at him. He crossed his arms. "You tricked me."

"Consider it payback."  
"Everything's payback with you, isn't it? I want a bandaid."

Tom rolled his eyes. "I don't have one." He kept his arms held out, grinning and waiting for Tord to be forgiving. Tord ignored him a few seconds, but then slowly gave Tom a hug. 

"I can't stay mad. Thanks. Do you want to go ho-"  
"I thought you would never ask, come on."

Tord rolled his eyes, by even trying to keep up with Tom's fasts pace. "Are you a vampire? You really don't like going outside, obviously."

"Nooo... I just don't like it. It's hot and annoying." He said, stopping a second. Tord nudged his side with his elbow. "Like you?"

"Augh!" 

Tom lightly shoved Tord and rolled his eyes. "That was stupid." He continued his pace, turning around to walk backwards. Tord raised an eyebrow. "Hey it wasn't that stupid! Better than some of the stuff you have said."

"No, my stuff has been-- Hey look, we're having our, what, 4th couple argument? Does it just run in our blood? It's like a legacy we have to keep." Tom said, staring off. 

"Yes, we HAVE to disagree."  
"And disagree that we disagree!"  
"Yeah! And if we disagree on THAT disagreement, we end up agreeing."  
"And then we would disagree that we agreed to disagree?"  
"I'm lost."

They both started laughing, which made Tom trip on a tree root on the pavement. "WoaH--" he yelled out, right as Tord caught him by the arm. He blushed slightly as he used Tord's arm to pull himself upright again. 

"Thanks but I could've handled that."

He hurriedly turned around and kept walking. Tord sighed. "Yeah, you sure could've! I would've loved to see that." 

They continued walking, nothing much happening. Tom pointed out the girl with the snake and pretended that a stick was a snake as he threw it at Tord. Priceless. 

They made their way back to the apartments, and Tom was relieved. "Sweet Jesus, thank you. Tord, I'm never walking out in the heat again." He grabbed Tord's arm and rushed across the street to the apartment door. 

Tom looked around for his key until Tord tapped his shoulder. He turned around, and Tord grinned. "You left it on the bed, Stupid."

Tom grabbed it and ruffled his hair. "I can always count on my mom to look after me." He put the key in the door and kicked it open. 

"WE'RE HOME!" He yelled into the silent area. "Wait, where is everyone?"

Tord followed in, closing the door and hastily fixing his hair into his spikes. He caught up with Tom and glanced around curiously. "Guess they left."

"Let's check for a note or something at least."


	29. Two Months

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops my hand slipped
> 
> A bunch

They walked into Edd's room, surprised. Edd was all by himself, just chilling in front of the TV. He turned to the door and waved. "Oh, you're back early."

Tom looked around curiously. "Yeah. We were done with that heat. Where is everyone?" He turned to Tord, who looked kind of nervous. He'd ask later. 

Edd shrugged. "Matt went off to the store again. I'm out of cleaning supplies because we spent nearly half an hour on getting melted fireworks out of the microwave."

Tom facepalmed. "That was stupid. Well, if Matt went there, then where are the other two?" He saw Tord pull out his phone out of the corner of his eye. Probably messaging them. 

At this, Edd gasped. "Oh yeah! Turns out, there's some really important invasion that's about to happen, and their group of army people--"

"Army?" Tord interjected. 

"Yeah, army, needed to have reinforcements. They didn't entirely leave, apparently. But you did, right Tord?" Edd looked at him expectantly. 

Tord glanced to the left at the pressure of them both looking at him. "Um... well... no. Not entirely. I'm in the same boat as Paul and Patryk. I was going to tell you guys....." he said, trailing off. Tom looked slightly panicked. 

"Wait, tell us what? That you're still kind of in the army, right? But not enough to like, leave or whatever?"

Tord bit his lip and exhaled. "No Tom, I do have to go to certain things. And I am going to this one. It won't take long, I promise. Maybe a couple of months."

"A couple of months?!" Tom said, running his hands through his hair. "Ohhhhh boy that's a while. What will you even be doing?"

Edd got up from the couch and came closer to the two. "Yeah, Tord, what do they even need you for? Why can't you stay with us?"

Tord shrugged with an anxious smile. "Uh-- lots of things... Red Army's ultimate plan is secret, and I can't tell, but... we invade countries ever so often. To gain their rule. So I will most likely be fighting other soldiers like me."

"W-With like, guns and stuff?" Tom asked, Edd patting his back comfortingly. 

"YES Tom, how else? Anyway, like I said it won't take long. It's only Sweden, so it really isn't that far." He said in a hopeful note. Tom threw his arms in the air. "Sweden!!? Another fucking country?!"

"YES TOM, HOW ELSE WOULD IT BE AN INVASION??" Tord yelled back. "Look. Don't even try to talk me out of it. I won't be long, I promise. This is a real promise, too." He glanced at Edd and then back at Tom. "You'll be alright. You've lived without me for years." He put his phone up and started gathering things up to leave. 

"Y-You're going right now? Can't you stay longer?" Tom asked, running after him. Tord shook his head. "No, I have to go right now. It might not even be two months Tom. It really isn't that-- please don't--"

Tord sighed tensely as Tom, still in a slight panic, was on the verge of tears. "That's like forever!!" He whined. "Just give it up and stay."

Tord shook his head again. He sat up straight, giving his professional look. "Two months. I'll be back. Promise." He held his arms out as an offer, having to hold his ground as Tom flung into them. 

"Okay. Fine. Two months. You better be back." He buried his face in his hoodie that he had grabbed while gathering everything. 

Tom backed away a second, surprised as Tord held out his hoodie. "Two months?" He smiled as Tom took it. "Two months." Tom leaned up and kissed him, wrapping his arms around his waste tightly again. 

After a moment, he backed away. Tord shakily sighed and started to make his way out. He gave Edd a hug, and got a threat that if he weren't back in two months that he would find him and drag him back. 

Then he got in the car and was gone. Edd turned to Tom. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. It's only two months, Edd." He said, throwing on Tord's hoodie. "Plus, he's super well trained and his army is amazing. I think... I don't know. I'm not in his army. But they're well trained!! And maybe he'll be back before two months."

Edd shrugged. "Eehhhhh..... just keep being hopeful."

"Maybe he'll be back tomorrow!" Tom suggested, elbowing Edd. He responded with an eye roll. "Isn't that what you said when he first left?"

"Nah. That was you. I said I didn't care." 

Tom stared out of the window with a worried look. Edd put a hand on his shoulder, noticing another car pull up. "Ah, Matt's back. Do you think he'll be mad when he finds out Tord left without telling him bye first?"

Tom cleared his throat, doing his best Matt impression. "Who's Tord?"

Edd laughed. "Guess not. I'll go help him." He walked out the front door, leaving Tom staring out the window still. He doesn't even take notice of Edd and Matt walking in, or Matt droning on and on about how someone said he looked nice, or how Edd brought a chair for him to sit in, or even that it turned nighttime in what seemed like minutes. 

This is a long wait.


	30. The Call

Before too long, it was already two months. 

Tom was fidgeting with a pen, clicking it and throwing at the wall in boredom. He heard Edd say something to him, but really didn't listen. 

"Tom!" Edd said, really loud. Tom grunted in response, barely turning his head to see his friend. "Tom, stop, you're gonna mess up the wall."

He took the pen from him and replaced it with a stress ball. "If you really want something to mess with, use this." He walked off into the other room in his mask of annoyance. Tom hasn't been himself for the past week, and Edd was fairly worried. Not only that, but Tord wasn't back when he said he would. 

He sat on the couch with Matt, who was currently staring at the TV. He grinned at Edd, giving a curt wave. "Heya, Edd! I think the tele broke." 

Edd looked up to see the TV on static. "Ah dangit. I'll fix it." He walked up, messing with the antennae. Tord was good at fixing the TV. Why was that important? It wasn't. Just another excuse to get stressier. Stresser? He's stressed. 

In a fit of this stress, he pulled on the antennae a little too tight. "There!!" Matt yelled, freezing in place as if he were Edd. Edd let go and took a step back, nervously smiling. "Oh cool, I did it."

Matt beamed in thanks, sitting back down on the couch. "Is Tom gonna come watch stuff with us?"

Edd looked up thoughtfully. "I don't know. HEY TOM." He yelled across the room, barely seeing Tom's head peek through the doorway. "Yeah?"

"Wanna watch a movie with us?"  
"Nah. I'm watching this great movie called outside. You should see it sometime!"

Edd rolled his eyes at the prominent sarcasm in his voice. "Alright, whatever. Your loss."

Tom stared back out the window, then down to his phone. Nothing. He's tried to text Tord everyday but to no avail. He slammed his face on the windowsill, immediately regretting the sting he felt on his forehead. 

He blinked the pain away, double-taking at his phone. A message?! "No way..." 

But sure enough, the screen was lit up and Tom was filled with a thrilling sort of hope. He swiped his phone and immediately dialed Tord's number. 

He sat tapping his foot nervously as the rings came through. 1..... 2..... 3.........

"Hello??"

Tom didn't even know what to say. Why haven't you texted me? Do you know what day it is?? You remember your promise??? I miss you.... you don't know how worried I was..... I love you. YOU SAID TWO MONTHS, YOU LITTLE GOBLIN--

"Tord!!"

Or that. 

"Tom, oh it's you. Hey... I know I said I'd be back a certain time, but we were delayed a bit. I got shot!!"

"Wait, what?! Where???"

"Geez, calm your tone, shortstuff. Just in the shoulder. Had to get it removed of course. But we are back on track and I will see you soon. Jeg elsker deg??"

Tom groaned loudly, not knowing whether to be angry, overwhelmingly happy, or scared. 

"I love you too, but hurry back."

The phone call ended, and Tom had never been happier.


	31. Return

Tom sat up, nearly tripping on the chair. "EDD!! EDDEDEDDEEDEDED MAAAATTTTTT!!!!!!" He yelled, stopping at the doorway in a huff. 

Edd looked up in an instant, alert and ready to save somebody. His tension didn't release until Tom started rambling excitedly, smile drawn on his face. 

"Tord... Tord is coming back!! Like, right now! Coming back!"

He started to laugh hysterically, looking up in amusement at Matt's confused face. "Tord? Who's that?!" He glanced at Edd's annoyed face, and suddenly clicked. "OOoooh, the kid with horns!"

Edd rolled his eyes, grinning to match Tom. Phew. He thought something bad had happened. Not this time, Edd. Not this time. 

Everyone was excited for Tord's return, and were out in the hall with Tom. The seconds ticked by slowly, minutes dragging after and the hours being little snails. 

But at one point in the night, Edd, half-asleep, caught glimpse of a light in front of the window. His brain racked through memories, and suddenly tenses up. 

Last time there were lights in the yard, Tord was gone. Wait-- Tord!!

He shoved Tom and Matt awake, too tired to even speak and just pointing out the window. This of course triggered Tom to jolt awake. He made a weird wheezing noise as he fell out of his chair. 

"Tord!!!" He said, scrambling back up and throwing the door open. The moment he swung it open, there he was. A boy most likely in his late teens, accompanied by two older adults.

He gave a lopsided grin at Tom, waving a hand awkwardly. "Hel---" he barely got out before Tom threw himself. He hugged Tord tightly, holding him in place and giving him a kiss. 

Tord responded, keeping it going for a couple seconds before pulling back and stepping into the apartment. 

He glanced around as if the environment was new, and then flashed a huge smile. "Not much has changed in the approximate 80 days I was gone. Tom seems less grumpy."

He caught sight of Edd waving, and waved back happily. "Edd!" He turned to face Paul and Patryk, who were just closing the door behind them. "You two should get some rest from the drive. Thanks for letting me sleep."

Paul shrugged. "It was nothing really. We wouldn't do any less for you, bud." He ruffled Tord's hair, laughing at his hiss and walking off to their room. 

Tom still stared wide-eyed, not breaking contact. "You just said your shoulder." He said, noting the slight limp Tord was walking with. His face had a cut on the bad side and he had no bandages on. 

"I had to take them off, sorry."   
"It's fine... as long as you're okay."


	32. Tord Just Wants a Hug

Tord fell silent a moment, just staring longingly at everything around him. All was perfect again. He turned to Tom, noticing what he was wearing. "Oh, you've been keeping that on?"

Tom glanced down and back up with a slight blush over his face. "Yeah, only 'cause you said I could. And I'd feel bad if I didn't put it on. Even if it is nasty."

Tord rolled his eyes. "Well, nothing to worry about now. Your old friend Tord is here and he's going to fix this... mess... you have here. Seriously, do you ever clean up after yourselves?"

He glanced in the living room which was cluttered with random trash. "Actually, you can thank Matt for that. His hoarding problems are better, but definitely not solved." Edd threw in, instinctively looking around for the ginger. 

"Speaking of which, Matt, come say hi to Tord!"

No answer. 

Tom narrowed his eyes, slightly annoyed. "He probably just fell asleep." He glanced up at Tord. "Can we go into my room?"

"Yes, one second Tom." He responded, patting his head like a little kid. "You don't have to wake him up. He probably doesn't even remember me again." Tord half-heartedly laughed. "But that's fine! I'm just glad to be back again."

Edd nodded in agreeance, but was more focused on finding out where the dimwit went. "Me too. You and Tom go have... fun or whatever... I'll look for Matt." 

Tom pretended to not notice Edd's face when he said "fun". He grabbed Tord's hand and walked him to his room. The taller looked down at him curiously. "What did you want to talk about?" He asked curiously, watching him close the door. 

Tom shrugged, walking to the chairs they had sat in before. "I just wanted to hear how everything went. And how you got hurt. Or who hurt you, so I can figure out how to murder them."

Tord blinked at the all-too-serious stare Tom was giving, and sat down next to him. "Weeeellllll.... the fighting went well. Really not sure who shot me, but I'm sure they're long dead by now."

"Why is that?"  
"Paul and Patryk were with me. Duh."

Tom rolled his eyes as he continued. "Anywaaay, someone from behind managed to cut my leg and nick my face in the process, but as I said earlier they're not major. Other than that, our army suffered 12 deaths. Pretty good considering the size of our enemy. We're also one step closer to taking over the world. Praise me."

Tord shot puppy dog eyes at Tom. 

"Uhhm... you're great?"  
"Yessss, do continue."  
"And you're awesome at... fighting?"  
"Hehehe, so I am. What else am I good at?"  
"Annoying me."

Tom grinned, trying not to laugh at the joking punch Tord threw at him. He glared at Tom in fake anger, then began to slide himself over to his chair. 

"What are you doing?"  
"Are you sure you JUST wanted to talk to me? Nothing else?"

He stretched out over Tom's lap, grinning. 

"As far as I know of, yes. That was all."  
"Nothing else? You sure you're not forgetting anything?"

Tom snorted a laugh as Tord curled his arms around his neck. "You suuuuure?" He droned on, leaning closer. Tom responded with wrapping his arms around Tord, hearing some surprised noise come from him. 

He blushed as he tried to play it off. "It's not nice to scare people."

"Well I'm not nice."

Tord locked eyes with him, looking as if he were about to try something before curling up on Tom. "Yeah you are. You're nice to me."

Tom flicked his head. "Nah."

"Yeah you are."


	33. wait what

Tord slunk down in the chair, grabbing Tom's arm and trying to bring him down too. 

"What are you doing?" Tom asked, blinking. 

Tord shrugged as he stood up and kicked the chair out from under him. 

"Ow! What the hell Tord?!"

Tord held out his hand dramatically, waiting for the other to take it. Tom looked at it skeptically, about to pull a typical jerk move by not taking it, but was pretty curious. 

"Woah--" he said as Tord lifted him up, other arm behind his back. 

"Wait, nO--"

Too late. Tord took both of Tom's hands and put one on his shoulder and one on his side. 

"There isn't even any music, this is stupid." Tom said sarcastically. Tord raised an eyebrow and snapped, music suddenly coming on. 

"Of course. Of course..... Exactly how much programming did that take?"

Tord ignored the question and started side stepping, walking circles around Tom and making him move with him. 

Tom made sure to keep an angry face on, obviously showing his hatred for dancing. He lifted his hands off and was about to move away when Tord rolled with it and grabbed one of them. 

He spun Tom in a circle and then landed in the cliché 'I'm about to kiss you' stance. 

"Where'd you learn to do that?!"  
"Movies."

Tord used his other arm to scoop up Tom. "Hey, what are you doing?? Tooooorrrddddd stoooooopppppp!!!!" He complained the whole time, up until Tord just said "okay" and dropped him. 

"Tord why don't you just say what you want?" Tom said, rubbing his head. 

"I want you to love me."  
"But I already do?"  
"Prove it."

Tom stared at him confused. "How? What do you mean?"

Tord shrugged. "If you love me a whole bunch then prove it!" He said with a big smile. 

"... what?? What do you want me to do?"  
"UuuuUUUUUUUGHHh. Tom. Give me affection. I haven't seen you in forever."  
"I JUST DID!!!"  
"Well I want more!!"

Tom got up and tackled Tord. "Screw your affection, you're lucky I even grace you with my presence!"

"SPOUSAL ABUSE!!! SPOUSAL ABUSEEEE!!!"  
"TORD SHUT UP!!"

Tom towered over him with an annoyed expression, then having it turned to confused as Tord stared up longingly at him. 

"That's a different way to show affection, Toooooom~"  
"Whyyyy are you saying my name like that?"  
"Oh does it bother you? Would you rather me call you Thomas?"  
"I would rather you not, Sir Tord."  
"You can just call me Tord~"  
"It was a joke." He said, pretending to smack Tord's face.


	34. Awkward Short Makeout

"Oooh kinky!" Tord said with a sly smile. 

Tom let out a sigh as his face turned red. "Tord what the actual fuck-- Look, all you have to do is ask."

Tord raised an eyebrow curiously. 

"Just ask? What are you implying that I want, Mr. Thomas?"

"Well-- you know!! Don't make me say it out loud." Tom said, crossing his arms. "And I said it's Tom- Not Thomas!"

Tord rolled his eyes for the billionth time that day. 

"Just come here."

He wrapped his arms around Tom's neck and pulled him down to his face. 

"I'll lead you through this step by step."  
"Tord I know how--"  
"SHUT UP, TORD IS TALKING!!"

Tom sighed again. "This is fucking stupid--"  
"You're fucking stupid!! Now just kiss me, dammit!"  
"FINE!"

Tom leaned down and kissed Tord a lot more forceful than he meant for it to be. His reaction made it seem like it was alright though. Tom felt Tord's hands digging in the back of his neck and pressed closer to avoid it from hurting. 

He was not in a good mood today, was he?! Tom stayed for a couple of seconds, only jerking back for enough time to breath before getting pulled back where he was previously. 

Tord held him there for nearly a minute straight before letting go and panting- huge grin plastered on his face. "Thank God. I needed that."

Tom tilted his head to the side, heavily breathing as well. "Why?"

They sat in silence for a few seconds before Tord grabbed onto Tom and flipped him onto his back, towering over him. 

"Because you will literally do anything to impress me. That power makes me feel kind of weird inside. Kind of like when I stab somebody REALLY hard in the chest and just watch them bleed to death in front of me, and they can't even do anything about it."

Tord let that sink in a second before grabbing at Tom's hoodie. "May I?" 

The shorter boy blushed and glanced to the door. "But-- What about Edd and Matt--"

"I sent Edd off to the store, and Matt hasn't been here for a while. Haven't you noticed?"

Great.

"Fine." Tom said, letting Tord take his hoodie off. He was already more uncomfortable than he thought he would be.

Tord noticed his face and laughed lightheartedly. "Don't act all awkward, now! Here, I'll do it to." He said before sliding off his own hoodie and tossing it to the side. "Better?"

Tom blushed and nodded. "Y-Yeah. That's fine. But we can't do this for too long-- I don't want Edd to walk in on us because that'll be... really awkward."

Tord nodded, listening to what Tom had to say. "I promise we won't be long. We're not gonna do anything worse than, I dunno some kisses. Unless you want more than that?"

"Hey now, you're the one that's literally on top of me. I'm fine with whatever you're willing to give."

"Good." Tord said, leaning back down and kissing Tom much softer than before. He positioned himself to where he was basically laying on his boyfriend's chest, trying to close as much space as possible between them. 

Tom caught on and wrapped his arms around Tord, slightly flinching as his hand barely brushed by the metal that was built into Tord's arm now. It was going to be a while before he got used to it, if he even ever did. 

They broke the kiss at that moment to just look at each other. They had to have stared for at least a minute or two before Tom started laughing. 

"What?!"  
"Pffttt-- nothing."  
"Nooo tell me Tommy! Did I do something?"  
"No, no, it's just.. heh.. it's just funny."

He sat up a little and smiled at Tord's confused expression. "Care to elaborate?"

"I dunno. Being all romantic and stuff. It's hard not to laugh... I used to make fun of this couples that we're constantly doing cute stuff and... here we are!" He said with another quiet laugh, holding his hands out as if he were presenting something. 

Tord couldn't help but giggle a little himself. "Heheh.. yeah... I was basically the same way." He noticed how he was still on top of Tom, his face getting a little flustered in embarrassment before he scooted off of him. 

"Really?"  
"Yeah. It's hard to be ruthless and romantic at the same time."  
"Mm... I'd say you're pretty ruthless still."  
"You think?"

Tom raised an eyebrow. "Honey, I KNOW. I mean look at you! You're a hot, unstoppable death machine-- I'm surprised you haven't blasted me to death yet with your fancy arm."

Tord took a second to look at it and shrugged with a smile. "Hm... I fancy handheld weapons far more. But it is pretty neat, isn't it?" 

They sat in awkward silence for a moment as they realized how they both just stopped their make out session to talk. After a moment or two, Tord broke the silence with a "Great, Tom. You're laughter has killed my desire to carry on with what we were doing. Might as well put our clothes back on."

Tom blushed in embarrassment. "N-No, hey, uhhh, you can keep your shirt off if you.. want. I like looking at it. You. You look nice." He fumbled over his words before Tord put a finger over his lips and laughed. 

"Ill keep it off for you."


	35. PSA

OKAYYYYY HELLO EVERYBODY!

You're probably going to get a notif. that this is a new chapter! And I am very sorry to disappoint your hopes. This fic is going on a hiatus again because I'm just not really in this fandom anymore. 

BUT!

That doesn't mean this is entirely over. I may get back to it eventually! I still love the show and the characters dearly, but not enough to continue writing this story =w=

I'm truly sorry if this is sad for any of you to hear, but I hope you'll check out my other fics, and the new one I will be making soon!

Thanks for all the support, I'll see you all eventually.

Love, the Author <3


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